A Maze Deep In is the debut album from Sauvageoness, a solo post-punk and industrial artist based in Switzerland. This is not an album made for the faint-hearted, or for those who don’t want to be fully immersed in a musical soundscape. This album is as mysterious and trippy as the title makes it sound. Listening to it feels like opening a dark mystical portal. The press release describes the album as “the tale of the pilgrimage of Love attempting to incarnate on Earth.”
The first five songs feel like listening to Siouxsie and the Banshees underwater while on drugs: mysterious, dirty, grungy and yet somehow captivating. The ethereal vocals draw you in even when you’re not entirely sure what is being sung. Personally, I often had no idea what Sauvageoness was saying lyrically, yet I still found myself completely absorbed in the atmosphere being created.
Then, just to take you on another twist of this unnerving rollercoaster of mystery, the album begins to shift. The songs become less industrial and lean further into post-punk territory. On ‘Show Me Your Body’, the vocals become more coherent, changing into an almost spoken word or stream of consciousness quality as she snarls “I don’t give a shit if I look pretty.” ‘Mio Stars at the End’ turns the guitars up further still, becoming harsher and more intense the deeper you walk into the maze.
This is not an album made for background listening. To truly appreciate it, you need to sit down, give it your full attention and allow yourself to disappear into its strange and shadowy world.
A Maze Deep In is out now and you can buy it on Bandcamp
Sauvageoness Socials: Instagram/Facebook
Review by Hayley Foster da Silva
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