Description
Fourth album of Os Vultos, a drone / noise / experimental band from Bergen, Norway. A Spectral Works release, an ESW division.
Tracklist
- Nunca / Sempre
- Homens honrados / The union is going strong
- Um Homem contra o horizonte (Tales de Mileto)
- Erimitério (Vanitas) / Meu Irmão (Para R.)
Credits
Music by Os Vultos
Lyrics by Abel Van Pires
Recorded, Mixed and Mastered by Os Vultos @ Pus Studios
Abel Van Pires – Vocals
Jens GT Rolfsens – Guitar
Greta Spyd Gabler – Bass
Per Bølger Gyunt – Keyboards and Programming
Design
Photography by Abel Van Pires
Artwork by Jack CJ Simmons
Bandcamp June 10, 2026
Digital distribution June 10, 2026
admin –
“Vultos IV was the first album by Os Vultos that was made with a clear intention to record an album. Vultos I, II and III initial aim was only to use the studio recordings to give structure to songs that came out of the rehearsals. Only after finishing these recordings, they decided to make them the albums Vultos I, II and III.
Vultos IV, recorded in January and February of 2007, is also the first album that nobody else has listened to in its entirety. Vultos I, II and III were shared with a few friends, but that did not happen in Vultos IV and the subsequent albums. The reasons are not entirely clear, but the story goes that having a lukewarm reaction from friends for Vultos I, II and III, they decided to go literally totally underground. Vultos started to create only for themselves like a perpetuum mobile machine, which from the first law of thermodynamics we know it is impossible: everyone needs energy input to produce output, but not with Os Vultos, they became self-sufficient.
Vultos IV marked a clear integration of a composition strategy that they used in the rehearsals. Like with many other bands, a new song often comes to life with improvisations. They, however, also improvise based on a new song to give birth to another new song, a kind of twin song, or Janus with two faces. We can see this in Vultos IV and they continued to use this composition strategy in other albums.
Sometimes the twin song is just an instrumental (like in “Eremitério (Vanitas)/Meu irmão”), but other times it is also a song on its own (like in “Um homem contra o horizonte/Tales de Mileto”). In “Homens Honrados/ The union is going strong” they use a verse from “There is mean things happening in this land” by John Handcox that they came across in the anthology “Songs for Political Action: Folkmusic, Topical Songs and the American Left 1926-1953”, a favorite album by the band. In Nunca-Sempre, with the background of a powerful guitar riff and tribal drumming, Abel sings “Never it’s too long. Always it’s too short”. Couldn’t be more truth.” — Artur M. Salgueiro