The enigmatic industrial techno genius that is Jamie Roberts, better known as Blawan, is back with four new tracks today. Featuring 25 minutes of bustling and bristling electronic interplay, Make A Goose is an action-packed offering that is sure to transport its listeners to a tightly-packed and dimly-lit factory floor.
Like stepping into the inner-workings of a submarine's machine room, the EPs opening track "My Guide To Dancing On Carpet" features an inescapable drone underneath all manner of metallic clangs, bangs, slaps and crashes. It's not mere mayhem however as Blawan's brilliance guides all this grit and grind into a ride on an infectious assembly line. Taking the energy down a bit, the second slice of Make A Goose again features all kinds of clicks and clacks against another industrial, mechanized backing. However, "Spooky Fingers" sets itself apart with more moments of interplay as it features supernatural synths and other alien elements. It is as if the machine operating this track is being abducted and assimilated as it goes along.
Entirely extraterrestrial now, the EPs title track features more of the aforementioned alien synths, now seemingly talking to each other. After setting up the track, and the experiment at its core, it's clear that these otherworldly beings are arguing with each other, giving the track another level of tension. While both of the earlier tracks deliver a dark, ominous energy, "Make A Goose" goes full steam ahead into anxiety and despair. This same spine-chilling energy opens the final track "The Conjurer," which may well lead you to lose your lunch. Featuring a frightful and menacing metallic motif at its core, this track is by far the most sparse production of the EP, while also its most emotionally irksome. Masterfully crafted, the evil and inhumanity of "The Conjurer" is unmistakable and unavoidable. Blawan's brilliance has made the track's turpitude so pervasive that seems to come from within. And I guess this is where I ought to reveal the imagery I've been so struck with while listening to Make A Goose.
Not just in terms of the industrial techno tilt but in the overwhelming themes of dread and despair, I've been picturing Make A Goose through the lens of Nicolas Winding Refn's The Neon Demon, which I watched this weekend. Both highly affective works of art, I indeed recommend both (especially if you can experience them in a dark, quiet place). Get Blawan's Make A Goose via Bandcamp below.