Do you ever experience something that leaves you in shock simply because of how much you didnt expect it, or because of how absurd it is? Perhaps you got jump-scared by a train horn someone questionably mounted onto their car, or you received the news that a dog in antarctica just finished writing its first novel. Maybe you’re enjoying a calm, synthy indie album and suddenly youre thrown into a storm of fuzzy guitars, auto-tune effects and introspective abstract lyrics. After this youre given tracks with atmospheric synths interweaving with distorted guitars, psychedelic pop leanings, and politically charged lyrics.
An average listener may expect that a man like Julian Casablancas, with a long history of activity in the music industry that has tended to fluctuate in the musical quality of releases, may not have much left to offer twenty years into his career. That listener would be absolutely wrong. Musicians can take many different routes as they age; most of them try to settle into a routine that they're already familiar with, and channel in their abilities to create a safe and mundane series of releases until retirement. Others experiment with what they know, and expand upon it to create something beautifully unique. Casablancas has solidified his place in the second category alongside brilliant minds such as Michael Gira and David Bowie. This music will be worth nothing to some people, but it'll be worth everything to others, and that's what gives many of the best records of all time their unmistakable charm.
An average listener may expect that a man like Julian Casablancas, with a long history of activity in the music industry that has tended to fluctuate in the musical quality of releases, may not have much left to offer twenty years into his career. That listener would be absolutely wrong. Musicians can take many different routes as they age; most of them try to settle into a routine that they're already familiar with, and channel in their abilities to create a safe and mundane series of releases until retirement. Others experiment with what they know, and expand upon it to create something beautifully unique. Casablancas has solidified his place in the second category alongside brilliant minds such as Michael Gira and David Bowie. This music will be worth nothing to some people, but it'll be worth everything to others, and that's what gives many of the best records of all time their unmistakable charm.
Jumping from one track to the next, it seemingly is uncontrolled disarray, but it continually comes together with each song to paint an jarring abstract work of art that makes more sense with the more time that you spend observing it. It was masterpiece that arrived to you at a time when you didn't expect it at all. Before its official release, there was no reason for you to have anticipated the incredible impact that it would have on you, but somehow it did. Somehow, it would perfectly embody everything you didn't know you were looking for. Somehow, it's as eclectic as it is controlled. Did it come together by the work of geniuses or madmen? Was it intentionally put together so brilliantly, or was it a happy accident? Maybe all of the above.
By the end of this record you decide to stop guessing what will happen next and you embrace the chaos. Listening to the hypothetical record in question would be quite similar to what I imagine its like to drift in and out of fits of insanity; you don’t realize how far you’ve gone off the deep end until it’s too late to turn back. Slowly your moments of rational thinking become increasingly more rare, and everything starts to make sense. Maybe it’s the future of music, maybe it’s so left-field and off-putting that it’ll be forgotten in a year or two. Perhaps it’s not a record that has any business existing, but it’s exactly what you need.
10/10
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