SURVEY CHANNEL - Human Imagery

 Released: October 6

Known for his hauntingly psychedelic free-form compositions, Survey Channel's latest album seems to amplify the haunting undertones of his work to an exponential degree. Focusing heavily on the current and rather depressing state of our world, Human Imagery takes us through large and reverberate spaces that drift along like the seedlings of a dandelion on a cold wind against a gray sky. True to the name of the album, these spaces are not without the ghosts of humanity. Sampled recordings of the various artifacts humans have created over the eons - religion, mythology, media, etc - appear, disappear, and reappear throughout with some being distorted yet intelligible and other being so degraded as to have almost entirely lost the message. 

The album opens with the bleak-sounding "Source of a Small Signal," a sweeping aura of darkness with the sound of a man speaking somewhat frantically and emphatically, although the message is all but impossible to decipher. Despite the unintelligible nature, there is the sensation that this is some kind of warning. However, it is unclear whether this is to be taken seriously or if it is simply the rambling of someone gone stark-raving mad. "Sigint Vale (of Tears)" is much clearer, however, as explosions of sound open the track up to desolate drones and a fire and brimstone preacher exhorting us to heed the dangers that have gone and are to come in the future. It all comes off as apocalyptic, in a confusingly soothing way.