New Music: Folian – Self-Limiter

Self-Limiter pushes your preconceptions of music, deliriously so, blurring the line between pain and pleasure.  

Portland, Oregon outfit Folian is the project of musician Devan Fylstra, and Self-Limiter is the first sample from their upcoming Delusory EP. The first three minutes or so are relentless in using noise and new forms to assail the senses, as if wanting you to find your own self-limit within soundscapes that could easily be as blackened and brutal as Merzbow or Author & Punisher, but retaining a bruised melody all the while.

Which means this isn’t Harsh Noise Wall, drone, or industrial; if shoegaze is matter, then this is its anti-matter, an approach to blackgaze that matches its energies through being opposite in all ways, held apart just before the two meet and destroy each other in the sonic equivalent of an annihilation event. Or maybe they do meet, and the latter half of the track ripples like cosmic microwaves in the celestial background, always-present echoes of a cataclysm that reverberates at the edge of our reality.

Fans of Jesu, Have a Nice Life, and 40 Watt Sun will love what they hear. Industrial fans might find Swans, GY!BE, and Neurosis as useful reference points. But for many, this will be something new, to which all I can say is: ‘Let the music take you wherever it wants to go; you’ll not regret being adventurous.’

Fylstra says of Folian, “With this project in general, I am often creating work as a means of better understanding something that is intuited at the time of creation, but not necessarily ‘known.’”

“The title of the song, Self-Limiter, has implications that relate to the subject matter directly. To work against or to inhibit oneself from actually existing in a way that is either ultimately desired or would otherwise be natural. It can be obstructive/destructive.”

The continue, “This song to me is recognizing this pattern of self-obstruction over time and perhaps poses some questions: Why does one knowingly work against one’s own best interests? Why make yourself smaller to fit inside your idea of what someone else wants you to be? Something beyond the obvious holds the answers, and I’m still seeking.”

Delusory can be pre-ordered in CD and digital formats via Feral Crone Recordings, while the cassette edition comes out on Accident Prone Records. Head to Bandcamp for details. You can learn more about the EP and plans for a full album in 2027 on Folian’s Facebook and Instagram social media accounts.

Header photo by Rue & Co Creative Collective