The story behind ARSCH’s debut album is as obscure as it is remarkable. We first encountered ARSCH at a small alternative festival in the Swiss Jura Mountains, where they performed a four-hour-long concert characterized by psychedelic minimalism, wild improvisations, and a raw analog sound. After the concert, we reached out to the band and discovered that ARSCH is an anarcho-syndicalist commune running a farm in a Swiss mountain village called Bitsch. They also shared that they maintain a 1970s-style recording studio in an old barn on their property.

Over the years, this collective of (non-)musicians produced a wealth of recordings, preserved on reel-to-reel tapes stored in the barn. Tragically, in 2019, the barn burned down after one of the band members fell asleep with a lit joint in his mouth. While no one was injured, most of the vintage instruments and a significant portion of their sound archive were lost in the fire.

This devastating event inspired us at Empty Space to assist ARSCH in processing their loss by compiling and releasing the last remaining recordings. As a result, ARSCH’s self-titled album serves as a cultural artifact, capturing the work of a truly unique community and preserving it for future generations.

The release is accompanied by a small poster, a laser print of a handmade collage by Ines Emertasol. It is printed on DIN A3 (12" x 15") heavy stock paper and is strictly limited to 30 copies.