Calcushac - Pico

Released: July 25

With just four tracks, Pico is a short little conceptual hike through a nonsensical landscape that breaks physics. It goes in a lot of different directions and kind of incorporates a little bit of everything sonically, with some smooth downtempo rhythms and scratchy percussive textures with lovely little lo-fi pads and tones. The first track on the EP “Pico Ruivo” feels particularly scratchy in it’s rhythms, starting out with a swirling mess of tones that includes what sounds like pieces of radio static cut up into a recurring percussion motif along with some mumbled little pieces of speech. The like disparate pieces come together really well, crafting an atmosphere that feels happy and upbeat but also with use the right touch of abstract weirdness. The next track, “Pico de Remal” contrasts with this a little bit and gives off slightly more bossa nova influenced vibes, but still keeps that bit of abstract weirdness in the middle with some darker colored pads. 

The latter two tracks feel heavier, especially “Bruxa” which gives off a borderline industrial atmosphere with some thicker drums and a 303-ish kind of bass line. The feeling is something kind of cinematic, like the buildup to an action scene in a rain-soaked cityscape. The vocal synths help this out really nicely giving a bit of a dramatic flair to the rest of the composition. The final track is a bit of a meandering composition with some thick pads that overpower some of the other elements except for the sparse percussion that is eventually joined by a subtle oscillating low-end. This one wasn’t quite my favorite track, but I can appreciate its function as an open-ended final track to wrap up the wandering nature of the album as a whole.