Muse Chronicle

Maurizio Vitale formed the avant-garde band Lolita Terrorist Sounds in Berlin. The name is a play on Nabokov’s work Lolita and the controversial connotations of the term terrorist.

“t. Lola is a musical adventure that widens the boundaries of music genres.”

Lolita Terrorist Sounds’ St. Lola is a mesmerising album that blends industrial rock and post-punk to great effect. As the album’s first single, “Shaved Girl” makes a bold statement, emitting a deliciously unnerving draw. Menacing voices let out, “I would never miss this chance,” over escalating percussion and grungy guitar distortion, leading into the song’s soaring title. The eerie allure created by the description of “a living porcelain doll” is bolstered by the addition of a post-punk guitar riff at around 02:30, which fits in well with the otherwise foreboding atmosphere. “I used a limited amount of old microphones and analogue gear to capture and preserve the instinctual roughness of the music,” adds Vitale. It wasn’t so much about crafting a perfect album as it was about preserving the atmosphere of the time and location where the songs were written. “Mind the Gap” is another album standout because of the emotional progression it provides. Vocals encourage listeners to “don’t forget to escape reality, don’t forget to escape banality” before venturing into the unknown, accompanied by pitter-pattering percussion and guitar feedback. These lines are accompanied by haunting guitar riffs and pulsing piano chords that build to a crescendo. St. Lola resounds with a slickly sinister appeal, from such high points to the nighttime creeps of the epic climax “Living-in-glory.”

You should give “Lolita Terrorist Sounds” a go despite the fact that it is unlikely to be to everyone’s taste.