digitalsakura - Morai

Released: March 8

Based on the ancient myth of the fates (formally known as the Morai in ancient Greek), anonymous experimental artist digitalsakura brings us an EP filled with sounds that flip-flop between harshly clashing with one another and melding seamlessly as one. Each track is named after each of the individual entities that made up the fates and each track feels as contradictory as the fates themselves. The first track alone feels like enough to have a small aneurysm to. It starts of with a a pad and a somewhat gurgling bass, then out of nowhere we are hit with some stabs that feel very out of place at first. However, as the stabs repeat themselves intermittently throughout the piece, they seem to meld into the track in an odd way. It doesn't make them feel less jarring, but rather the jarring nature of them influences the other parts of the track as it progresses with more cohesive parts and more jarring episodes. In effect, this is kind of the musical theme of this album - strange and non-cohesive sounds slamming into one another, forcing the listener to make sense of it even if there may be no sense to be made. Which is more or less how fate seems to operate. 

"Lachesis" maintains this strangely coherent incoherence though it feels more immediately accessible than the tracks surrounding it with its focus on rhythms that are just slightly beyond random, feeling a bit ritualistic in sound. But "Atropos" is where things get weird again as it begins with a rather odd choice of a melody played out on a harpsichord of all things. This harpsichord carries practically the whole track as it is joined by all manner of accompaniments that come and go throughout its eight minute runtime including rumbles, warbling pads, and odd artifacting on the harpsichord itself. It feels very neo-baroque (if there is such a thing) and defies any kind of comparison, at least in my mind. The final track ties everything together rather neatly with a slower tempo and darkly colored synths. It fittingly makes for the longest track on the album, taking us through different textures and tempos as the track progresses, starting at a moderate speed and then slow down to nearly mush as the end approaches. The album is a bit of a difficult listen at first, but pressing on yields a rather pleasant reward by the finale.