VON WILDENHAUS – Releases Surreal, Spacious Single: “Ketamine” || Ahead of UK Tour this September

“He’s doing his own thing in his own way” – Iggy Pop“Wildenhaus anti-prismatically recombines the worlds of David Lynch, Marc Ribot, Jad Fair and Luis Bacalov into an oddly familiar new whole”
– The Quietus

Apocalyptic avant-pop artist – VON WILDENHAUS – has shared new single “Ketamine”, ahead of a UK tour across September. 

In lieu of a traditional album release the artist is issuing an extended series of singles across the coming months, culminating in a new compilation ‘Von Universe’, which will be available exclusively at the UK shows. 

A spacious, sublime offering that sees Von Wildenhaus fuse alchemistic rhythms and airy instrumentals with celestial vocal delivery and a cavernously clean approach to production, “Ketamine” is the sixth track to be taken from the artist’s forthcoming compilation. The track is also premiering now on It’s Psychedelic Baby Magazine alongside an interview with Ben – read it here.

Evoking a feeling that is as fragile as it faraway, Ben von Wildenhaus explains of the new track:

“”Ketamine” embodies the feeling of dissociation that overwhelms when you separate from someone you love. We often play this as spacey folk, but here we really wanted to take it into the realm of ethereal ‘80s pop — that crisp digital world full of inorganic heartbreak.” 

Available in CD format exclusively at Von Wildenhaus’ UK shows next month, ‘Von Universe’ is a unique release full of abundance and eclecticism. 

Across ten wry and magnificently warped alt-pop tracks, audionaut Ben von Wildenhaus has produced a sonic cosmos that expands beyond the realm of what a conventional band can do. Bringing together an eccentric group of songwriters, players and producers comfortable working in different formations across a variety of recording spaces, the new compilation explores a wide range of material, as well as an array of technical and musical possibilities. 

Where recent single “Ghost Moon” tapped into haunted folk, bazaar noir and the jangle of junk-pop, the likes of “Anna Sonata” found the band taking on a Dada grunge stomper, smouldering with near-meanings and half-dreams of a goodbye party for a world that never quite existed in the first place. Elsewhere “Moon Rover” recalls the arabesque surf material of 2015’s ‘II”, while “Kinetic Ohm” and “Yoyo a Go Go” put a more ethereal and apparitional spin on proceedings.

In the lead up to the tour Von Wildenhaus will also release the epic show-stopping ballad and final single “Endless Start” on 5 September. 

* * * *

Hailing from the fog-drenched US Pacific Northwest, Von Wildenhaus is an apocalyptic avant-pop lounge act and a bizarro rock’n’roll band as comfortable working in American folk idioms as they are covering Henry Purcell x Klaus Nomi. 

Ben von Wildenhaus leads a cast of shadowy conspirators in conjuring this darkly sonorous music, most notably accompanied by the spectral presence of singer Billie Bloom, who delivers ecstatic melodies with fearless and riveting devotion that have found admirers in the likes of The Quietus and Iggy Pop.

With his new single “Ketamine” landing on 29 August, Von Wildenhaus’ UK tour kicks off in Ramsgate on 7 September. The artist’s new compilation ‘Von Universe’ will also be available exclusively at the shows. Full dates and details below. 

VON WILDENHAUS UK TOUR 2023

SEPTEMBER

07 RAMSGATE Ramsgate Music Hall

09 LONDON The Slaughtered Lamb

11 BATH The Bell Inn

12 BRISTOL The Ill Repute

14 BIRMINGHAM Kitchen Garden Cafe

15 LIVERPOOL Jimmy’s 

16 MILTON KEYNES The Craufurd Arms

17 WINCHESTER The Railway Inn

‘VON UNIVERSE’ TRACKLIST

1. While You Were Sleeping

2. Ketamine

3. Anna Sonata

4. Yoyo a Go Go

5. Ghost Moon

6. Moon River

7. Kinetic Ohm

8. Garbage Day

9. Aluminium 

10. Endless Start