Fokular’s “Narrative” advances on the sound and vision outlined by Weltschmerzen’s first 3 releases. The collection of 5 instrumental tracks brings forward themes such as the contemporary human condition, dignity, frailty and existence in a world full of crises and failures. The manifesto of a lone soul.

On his first ever solo release, Fokular brings forward and develops a sound that is grounded in his previous projects as a drummer >> in the Slovak doom legend Möbius, and also other dark and hardcore projects Unattended Funeral and Boiling Point. For the first time he assumes the role of a solo producer to fill us with common feelings of despair, raises questions of belonging, and provides us a space to contemplate and observe. Existentialism in music at its best.

None of the doom and sludge has gone away. The drums are heavy as ever, the tempo gliding, repetitive, mesmerising in a way you lose the sense of time. But Fokular advances all of this yet further, bringing forth other genres he draws inspiration from >> heavy, dense hip-hop beats and post-modern jazz. Imagine Portishead and The Body on steroids and ketamine >> more stripped-down, doomy, and seismic.

On Narrative, Fokular is accompanied by kindred musicians Edúv Syn, Tomáš Urík and Dominik Novák, supplying vocals, melodic, synths and key instruments // and visual artist Dominika Koššová, augmenting the work with stunning artwork and visuals. He considers the album a shared structure, built together by people with a common background and worldview, and praises this organic process; being the one who orchestrates, produces and mends it all together.

Intrinsically, Fokular is not fond of listening back to the pieces. Composing them was a sort of self-therapy, and expectedly, this brings forward feelings of personal and emotional struggle, loneliness, alienation, and a personification of his inner world. They capture everything he went through during an intense year // raw and alive.

In the centre are drums, serving as a backbone for the rest. But don’t deceive yourself >> the rest is not redundant, or lacking in expression. The pieces work as a whole, the drums are a gem, sitting on top, tarnishing the listener. The material is carefully composed and produced, and rich in detail; layers of cold and lonely synth lines sitting above existentialist field recordings and drones; carefully laid down to build structures and atmospheres, which are heavier than dams >> just before they collapse at dawn. credits