Zend Avesta – One Of These Days – Artefact

This record was originally released in 2000 and I must have bought a copy around that time. I probably paid £1 or 50p for it, plucked from a bargain bin in Manchester’s Vinyl Exchange. I’m sure I must have bought it ‘deaf’. At that time, I wouldn’t have heard of Arnaud Rebotini, Black Strobe or even Artfect, the label that released the record. I probably bought it for the intriguing cover and the novelty of it being a clear 10″. Musically, I was expecting a House record, as One Of These Days was released on a Parisian label at the height of the French Touch period. This couldn’t have been further from the truth! One Of These Days is a stunning acoustic composition with glorious guitars, windswept strings and fragile vocals from one time GusGus vocalist Hafdis Huld Firastardóttir. One Of These Days immediately became one of my favourite songs and it remains so to this day. For me, it became a mixtape and bar DJ set favourite, although I have never heard anyone else play it. A few years later, I found another copy in London’s Music & Video Exchange and gave it to a friend, but they unfortunately didn’t share my love for the record. In 2019, Organique (the album One Of These Days came from) finally received a vinyl release courtesy of RSD and Rebotini’s own Blackstrobe Records. It is an intriguing long player that I think is best described as theatrical Trip Hop. One Of These Days is still a world apart, at least to my ears. The downer Goth Hop of B Side Ich Will Dir Helfen perplexes me to this day!

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