Blanck Mass

Benjamin John Power channels the soaring melodies and intense sonic barrages first developed during his time with Fuck Buttons into provocative and evolving sonic explorations under the Blanck Mass name. Although the project surfaced through the fluid ambient textures of the self-titled 2011 release, Dumb Flesh from 2015 confronted mortality and decomposition by means of fragmented vocal elements alongside robust rhythms that edged toward rhythmic grooves. Blanck Mass consistently delivers music marked by sonic and affective force, whether confronting political wrongs on World Eater in 2017 or seeking human bonds on 2021's In Ferneaux.

Raised in Worcester, England, Power gravitated toward post-rock groups during his youth, with Mogwai leaving a particular mark on the sounds he crafted as an adolescent. He joined Andrew Hung to establish Fuck Buttons following their 2004 meeting at art school, after which the pair issued the widely praised Street Horrrsing in 2008 and Tarot Sport in 2009.

During Fuck Buttons' 2010 pause, Power initiated Blanck Mass work; the atmospheric, sustained electronic pieces captured in his apartment formed the project's inaugural album, issued by Mogwai's Rock Action imprint in 2011. Though more abstract, this effort often proved more approachable than his Fuck Buttons output and earned positive notices plus references to Brian Eno and Ghost Box artists. The album track "Sundowner" accompanied "Olympians" from Tarot Sport during the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony. Software Recording Co. also put out the "White Math/Polymorph" single that same year.

Once Fuck Buttons delivered their third album, Slow Focus, in 2013, Power turned to Blanck Mass' follow-up, composed and tracked at both the Space Mountain studio and his Edinburgh residence. Prompted by "the flaws of the human form in its current evolutionary state," Dumb Flesh arrived in 2015 as a significant advance, weaving in glitchy vocal fragments and danceable rhythms. The Great Confuso EP, probing death and its aftermath, surfaced that year, as did Power's reimagined score for the giallo film The Strange Colour of Your Body's Tears, which included input from Roll the Dice and Konx-om-Pax. Blanck Mass supplied "D7-D5" to the 2016 Adult Swim Singles Club. World Eater followed in 2017 as an aptly cataclysmic reflection on late-2010s political upheaval. Animated Violence Mild appeared in 2019, highlighting Power's melodic strengths and the music's emotional resonance. He returned to soundtracks in 2020 with the brooding, affecting score for Nick Rowland's Calm with Horses.

After pandemic isolation kept Power home during 2020 and 2021, he revisited a decade of tour-collected field recordings from global travels. These informed two extended pieces that fused sensations of connection with surging combinations of synths, drones, and beats; Sacred Bones released the resulting In Ferneaux early in 2021. The following year, Power's first official film score, for the Irish crime drama Calm with Horses (released in the U.S. as The Shadow of Violence), combined his electronic style with emotive orchestral and acoustic instrumentation. When lockdowns due to the COVID-19 global pandemic forced Power to return home from touring, he performed live streaming sets and set to work on another album. Released in February 2021, In Ferneaux's ambitious, suite-like tracks used a decade's worth of field recordings he captured while on the road.