I want to swim in my own body
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| Split Silk - "Drown" Label: Jean Scene |
To never fully accept yourself, never feel comfortable in your body, feeling like an outsider and someone who's constantly living in his own head, with no chance of leaving the damn place, can be quite the burden sometimes. On the surface, you're doing well, but it looms over you all the time. It's like something you're wearing 24/7 but just can't take off like your stinking socks. Well, here's your soundtrack to this feeling...
SPLIT SILK is Lucca Cassandra Anastasia Carver. Some Skramz-heads might know her from Edie Quinn's "DE FACTO ENSCRIPTURE"-project. Lucca also did this pretty good LIZAREL-EP with Edie and Tom Schlatter (YOU AND I, BLACK KITES, CAPACITIES, among many others). In a surprising move, her first outing as a solo artist is not what you'd call "Screamo", despite screams being a part of it. Lucca seems to be way into 90s-Post-Hardcore and some noisy Alt-Rock. UNWOUND seems to be her main inspiration, and she also names SONIC YOUTH, RODAN and SHOTMAKER as influences. You could probably add SLINT, THE BREEDERS, LUNGFISH or DRIVE LIKE JEHU. While 90s-Post-Hardcore wasn't pure mainstream gold, bands like UNWOUND, FUGAZI and DRIVE LIKE JEHU got recognition back then, while nowadays every act that plays something similar flies under the radar with a certainty. So, here's your billboard to not let that happen to you with SPLIT SILK's new EP "Drown". As it really captures this cool 90s-feeling.
"Attune" kicks off the EP in a magnificent way and might just be my favourite song on "Drown". The cold, but also very beautiful and melancholic guitars set the mood, the drumming adds to the epic-ness of it, and the whole distortion and feedback going on around it, is very very "UNWOUND-ish". And then, Lucca's simultaneously mysterious and emotional vocals suck you in even deeper. I love the mix of the vocals, it's subtle, and low and therefor it's fucking effective, when she brings in the more offensive screams in the last stretch of the track. Thematically "Attune" is just that for Lucca and the EP: "Attune my needs to what matters the most // I want to reach me".
"Heirloom" is more in the vein of Post-Punk and bands like LUNGFISH or HOT SNAKES, albeit not as reserved as the first, nor as frantic as the latter. Besides the two, sure, there's also some DRIVE LIKE JEHU in the guitars. It's a straight and pretty "traditionally" structured song, with that chord sequence looped over and over again. And then this line, I can relate to so much: "Vigilance isn't a virtue. It's a curse".
Speaking about lines, the title track "Drown" is something like the center piece of the record where the lyricsm shines strong. It's the hymn for all overthinkers and even when it might come off as uninspired on my part, I gotta quote another awesome line: "I want to drift, with no aim, open my eyes, close my mind". Musically "Drown" is somehwere in the middle of "Attune" and "Heirloom".
"Hollow" is the most harmonic and melodic song so far, with extensive guitars covering the ground, while Lucca switches between the Kim Deal-like mumbling and her desperate, relieving screams. I dig that. "Noble" then is the longest song on the record and another one about overcoming anxiety and living a worthy life. It's pretty up-front and dramatic, with Lucca screaming more than usual and a great, melodic arc, making it all epic. The closing "Ocean Heart" is lyrically pretty interesting and as one might assume (well, I didn't at first) a story about "Titanic". Strong words, to wrap up the EP in a fitting fashion.
I was directly drawn to SPLIT SILK, due to my love for this certain kind of style. But diving deeper into it, I got the sentiment of the record too, also transported through the genuinely written lyrics. In a disgusting way, they're so relatable, while -at the same time- being so harsh at self-analyzing. But it's not like the theme of the whole record solely is that of feeling uncomfortable in your own body or in society. On top of it, "Drown" is pretty optimistic and liberating. And that's something you can feel.
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