The malaise and relentlessness of getting from one day to the next through bleary eyes and a thousand droning thoughts of pure and utter exhaustion…
‘Knackered’ is the newest single from Cyst, the duo formed by Iglooghost (proprietor of the world’s hardest album cover Tidal Memory Exo) and Daisy* FKA BABii.
Sonically, Knackered’s distinctive sound is characterised by an onslaught of heavily distorted vocals paired with glitching, driving synths and percussion, and lyrics depressing and grotesque to the extreme. Overwhelming? Yes. Sinister? Yes. Enjoyable? Absolutely.
Knackered delivers the macabre beauty and buzz of a horror film in audio, with lyrics painting a variety of visceral nightmares. Desecrating graves with buzzsaws, bodies getting dragged through paper shredders, and a personal favourite of mine, getting cooked to make PVA glue.
It’s not shock for shock’s sake – everything is as deliberate as it is extreme to paint a metaphor for life in its most repetitive, overwhelming and inescapable of forms.
That feeling starts from the first second. The track opens with the squeaking of a dog toy or a children’s toy, serving as an immediate reminder that the responsibilities of life have its grips on you. Even as you sleep…
A spiralling synth carries you from the squeaking into a full on industrial rave. Cyst have already carved out a completely unique sound, which is brilliant to hear so early on. A mix of garage, techno and electro all playing out under the gaze of an overbearingly dark presence. There is something grippingly uneasy about the way they craft their music, and I think that comes from their dedication not only to make great songs, but also to build an entire world that bleeds through the album art, music videos, promotional materials, websites, and merchandise.
A great example is Iglooghosts’s previous album Tidal Memory Exo. A project that delivered “tunes about oceanic scum, illegal teletext transmissions, & the prehistoric trilobite angels lurking in the sewers.” It makes little sense as a concept on its own but when the whole vision comes together, no-one could have explained it more succinctly than Iglooghost himself. You can explore more for yourself here.
Or Daisy*’s previous project Daredevil2000 where she ‘explores the origins of violence and criminality and how hell relates to the real world. Each song corresponds to a separate sin and comes with a villainous criminal attached… hooligans, gargoyles, goblins, and a Trash Spirit Clown named Tito Von Bricabrac. All exist in the fantastical Nevaworld, a futuristic hellscape that the album exists in.’ – (BABii, Bandcamp)
Knackered is a door left ajar, just a glimpse of the twisted, futuristic world Cyst are building for us all to fall into.
Rabbit arrives September 4th.
