The Devil’s Interval (Alienation)

Black vinyl housed in a pro-printed jacket, with outer silk-screened PVC sleeve. A visionary artefact from the mind of Steven Stapleton under the guise of Nurse With Wound, drawing some of the best of the project’s recent output back into the light, Vasopressin delivers the first ever vinyl edition of “The Devil’s Interval (Alienation)”, comprising two stunning works of minimal, atmospheric experimentalism, that stand among the most striking and immersive to ever have been created by the project. A stunning and radical rethinking of the terms of ambient music, responding to an ever-darkening world, it’s an absolute must for every NWW fan, new and old.
“The Devil’s Interval (Alienation)” was created and recorded in 2017 during one of Nurse With Wound’s sleep concerts – long form events instigated by Steven Stapleton, within which he inter-splices elements of the project’s back catalog while audience enters a restful state – at Burren College of Art, Ireland. Originally issued in 2020 on a 3” CD that accompanied a 50-page book by Octave Mirbeau published by the French imprint, Lenka lente, this is the first time the work has appeared on vinyl or been available as a stand-alone work of audio.
Remarkably minimal, the outcome stands among the most subtle and atmospheric of all the many works produced by Nurse With Wound. For roughly half of the work Stapleton spins immersive resonances from gong-like tonalities, weaving in Aurélie Lierman’s extended technique vocalizations, before pushing the piece into the other realms with a series of lower harmonic drones and the bristling textures of electronics.