Album: Atavistic Americana
Artist: Horologium
Label: Sky Burial
Catalogue no: SKY029
Tracklist:
1. Vexillum
Stellata
2. Pax
Americana
3. Ad
Caelum Novum
4. Potestas!
5. Somnium
Somnio
6. Progressus
et Vigilantia
7. Luna
I
usually avoid getting into political discussions, mainly because it’s a
pointless exercise in these divided times, however to say that Horologium’s Atavistic Americana doesn’t pull its
punches on that front is like saying that the sky is blue or that water is wet.
It’s a hard-hitting collection of pieces whose main theme is the hypocrisy of
the modern world: countries paying nothing more than lip-service to the idea of democracy whilst operating
behind the scenes in a thoroughly undemocratic fashion; a world where money
speaks louder than words and actions, where the maxim might is right is seen as
the ultimate display of power, and where religion has been perverted to support
the rich while stripping the poor and under-privileged of what little dignity
they had in the first place. Grzegorz Siedlecki artfully employs all manner of
styles and genres, from dark ambient to martial industrial and points in
between, to get his message across – this is the current sorry disposition of
Planet Earth and its inhabitants but what are we doing about it?
‘Vexillum
Stellata’ (Star-Spangled Banner) opens up the account, pointing the finger
firmly at America, beginning with some phrases from the anthemic music written
by John Stafford Smith sometime in the 1760s before a male American voice declares
‘We begin bombing in five minutes’, which tells us succinctly exactly where
this is heading. Further samples saying ‘Despicable acts of terror’ and
‘Hiroshima’ deftly leave you asking who exactly are the terrorists here?
Pitching itself somewhere between danceable chaos, noise, and martial
industrial this opening abstract summarises what’s to come. ‘God bless America!’
indeed. ‘Pax Americana’ (American Peace) is one that comes with strings
attached – liberation at a price, or so it appears from a distance. Driving
drumbeat, more samples, and scratchy guitar propel this at galloping pace,
charging headlong without preamble into the fray.
‘Ad
Caelum Novum’ (To Bring a New Heaven) starts off pleasantly enough, until the
mood darkens with clashing drones fighting against voices. We can relate this
to the modern world – in the eyes of some ‘Heaven’ constitutes living according
to Western standards, the imposition of which creates clashes with
cultural/religious traditions to produce frictions and tensions that are often
irreconcilable, often leading to violence. ‘Potestas!’ (Power!) brings us back
to the idea of the notion that ‘might is
right’, featuring as it does a report of the dropping of the first atomic
bomb on Hiroshima on 6th August 1945. Haunting voice-like howls in
the background counterpoint the blithe announcement, as the thousands who died
because of its employment appear to have been forgotten. Massed organ chords
swell at the start of ‘Somnium Somnio’ (To Dream a Dream), light yet still with
a hint of darkness apparent intertwining between the layers, providing a
vehicle for more voices, barely audible but we know and feel that they’re there
in the background, perhaps ghostly memories of those who have fought for their
dreams and freedom, but in the end laid down their lives without ever seeing
either come to fruition.
‘Progressus
et Vigilantia’ (Monitoring Progress) is perhaps the most ‘traditionally’ song-like of all the pieces here, a simple 4/4 beat
operating as a launchpad for samples and loud blasts of trumpets and horns,
along with guitars. Monitoring progress is merely a euphemism for ‘keeping
under control’, ensuring that the new rules are being observed. ‘The happiness
of our people’, in this context, sounds sinister – it’s all about context,
really.
‘Luna’
(The Moon) can be seen from two different angles: one of hope, that we as
humans can pool our knowledge and resources together to accomplish something
great and merit-worthy, or, approaching from the opposite direction, the money
spent on space exploration could be used more usefully in sorting out the
problems here on earth. Whichever way you prefer to see it entirely depends on
what colour lenses you view the world through. Either way, what we have here is
a dark ambient swath of susurrating textures overlaid with lunar communications
between astronauts and Mission Control, and of course Neil Amstrongs’s famous
line ‘One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind’. This piece is both a
celebration and an accusation.
An
at times raucous and bombastic release it nevertheless gets its central thesis
across without resorting to bludgeoning or histrionics. And that message is
pin-sharp, laying out the charges succinctly and with brevity. We all know that
Government (with a capital G) operates within a sphere of its own, sometimes
beholden only unto itself, and we need to be reminded that what we hear about
their doings is only a tiny part of the story. Even though this was released
nearly a year ago (and much can happen in politics within that time) it’s still
immensely relevant, perhaps more so in 2019. In that sense, this is a timeless
album, which will perhaps remain relevant for some time yet to come.
Available
as a digital download from Bandcamp:
Psymon Marshall 2019.
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