At some time it becomes too much in itself, and the Chemicals, the last song of Moon Construction Kit that Lausanne-based artist Olivier Cornu created, appears to have reached that specific brink of breaking. It is not a song to listen when one is weak, rather, it is like being thrown into a room when all the feelings are screaming to be heard at the same time, until all that can be done is to give up and to go numb.
The first thing that catches to the ear is its level of denseness. The song has been stacked up closely, as in a crowd pressed together shoulder to shoulder, uncomfortable but strictly disciplined. The vocals of Cornu come out distorted and broken, expressing emotion as much as song by grains and distortion. This is deliberate abrasiveness, – a feeling of torn edges, – which reflects the obsessive focus on overload and decay in the song.
Musically, Chemicals is a contradictory song. There is comprehensive scratch of gritty indie-rock, but there is a piercing pop instinct beating beneath it in the gloomy goth backdrop. It is as though the seriousness of The Cure met the desperate power-pop melodies, all of which was put into perspective by the uniquely cinematic sound production by Cornu. One can feel echoes of the late 60s about psychedelic, but it is well-grounded on the modern alternative terrain, dominated by the nervous, adrenaline-induced energy.
This style is dubbed as power-goth-pop by Cornu, and it suits. It is a confrontational song, filled with the incestuous gloom and all the emotional weariness, but strangely purgative in its non-bleachering of the blow. The anarchy has its own catharsis–it is the feeling of discharging all at once.
Chemicals knows what that feels like psychologically to be a jack of all trades, how to make that personal fallout into something fierce, volatile and strangely liberating. Moon Construction Kit keeps hacking his disconcerting niche to the alternative landscape, excavating additional layers.
Stay connected with this amazing artist:
Discover our playlist :