The USA-based dark folk act Xasthur has revealed the first single, "Messenger Of Your Reflection", from its forthcoming album, Disharmonic Variations, chalked up for release on 5 July via Lupus Lounge.

Xasthur's mastermind, Scott Conner, writes: "Anyone can be the message - you are the message. Seeing a true reflection and conveying it. Elaborating on the reflection when you cannot or will not. I was thinking about how reality is a message and how people cannot claim that they have one. I often see it for what it really is, or is not, and deliver it. Being a messenger of the truth".

Some guys have all the luck. Xasthur's founder Scott Conner sure ain't one of them. The always open wound of his life suppurates in a constant flow of sonic blood into and out of his latest album Disharmonic Variations. The thirteen bitter, painful, dirt-stained, and sometimes even hopeful tracks sure ain't pretty Goldberg Variations either. Rather the title Disharmonic Variations serves as both the program and the message.

Music is not just what Scott does. He does not lead a picture-book life. There is only music. Conner does not write and record just eight songs a year. He makes music 24/7 on his own time and in his own way. Scott does it analogue, in the hard old-fashioned way, with his gear and instruments piled up in the room where he stays at the time.

In this musical flow of consciousness, this diary of an artist, all considerations of style are a luxury that Scott does not have. His current form of expression on Disharmonic Variations tends towards the acidic taste of American dark folk with one detour into ambient sound. There is no guarantee for the direction that Xasthur will take next. Whatever happens depends on what Scott feels.

Xasthur was conceived by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Scott Conner in 1995. Although started in the sunny state of California, USA, the project started in the vein of bleak black metal of the Nordic second wave. Throughout ten albums and a host of split-singles, EPs, and occasional demos, Xasthur's individual, particularly depressive style, became highly regarded within the extreme genre.

In 2010, Scott announced the end of Xasthur and returned with an acoustic dark folk project under the banner of Nocturnal Poisoning. In 2015, the American artist circled back to the name Xasthur but insisted that his black metal days were over.

In the previous release, Inevitably Dark (2023), Xasthur partly lifted the self-imposed ban on black metal - simply because Conner felt like it and, therefore, did it. In the latest development, he even announced live shows. There is simply no way of knowing what will happen next.

With Disharmonic Variations, Xasthur delivers its next "take it or leave it" recording. To Scott Conner, it does not matter what other people think about his music. Curse him, praise him - he still only does what he wills, and that remains his true artistic achievement. Link