Hàn Gắn are back with the ferocious ‘Monster’s Kingdom’, marking the Washington D.C. duo’s first release of the year. Without a moment passing, the atmospheric aggression of distinctive sonic layering, distant melodies and distorted guitars are all put on full show.
The instrumentation is sometimes cutting, other times brooding, both sets of vocals carrying restlessness and punk tension, confrontational at every turn. Urgent, raw and wired, the new sounds underlying the spoken-word vocal delivery seem to arrive in three acts, each one building upon but more hectic than the last.
The duo shares their inspirations, “We looked around and turned what we saw into sound—not a hopeless world, but a wounded one, aching for healing and demanding consequences for the abuses of powerful men.”
Hàn Gắn, their name translating to heal in Vietnamese, is comprised of Brian Nicewander and Matthew Eng, who first began writing together in a high-rise apartment overlooking the Potomac River and the U.S. Capitol, a vantage point that shaped the fierceness of their sound.
‘Monster’s Kingdom’ is focused and still lively, even in its darker assertion; there’s an added hope to this new era of Hàn Gắn.
Listen here:
