Ragana & Drowse

Ash Souvenir is the collaborative album by Drowse (Kyle Bates) and Ragana (Maria and Noel), conceived in a shared sense of grief and collective memory rooted in the Pacific Northwest.

Ash Souvenir was originally commissioned by and premiered at the 2024 edition of Roadburn Festival in Tilburg, Netherlands. Afterwards, the trio recorded the album at the legendary Unknown studio in Anacortes, Washington. The album combines Ragana’s heavy, emotionally charged metal with Drowse’s textural approach to sound. Across four long-form pieces, the trio’s voices and instruments move between stark intimacy and overwhelming intensity, culminating in a collective refrain: “there is nothing to lose.” Ash Souvenir is a sublime experience, conjuring both the power of a devastating eruption and the eerie stillness that lingers in its wake, ashen memories drifting through night air before rejoining the earth.

Ragana have carved their niche as pioneers of the Pacific Northwestern queer black metal scene. They have released five albums since their formation in 2012, with their most recent being 2023's critically acclaimed Desolation's Flower. Kyle Bates specializes in moody, glacial drone as Drowse, a vision that has spanned across five albums since beginning the project in 2018. His most recent, Wane Into It, came out in 2022 on The Flenser, followed by a split LP in 2023 with Portland-based experimentalist Amulets.