Decoding Presence: The Mesarthim Enigma Vol. 3
As you may have heard, Monday saw the release of yet another surprise EP from the space-themed atmospheric black metal band Mesarthim. I am back again to decipher the mysteries contained within.
Before anyone reasonably had the time to listen to the new EP, the mysterious duo already had about 20 supporters. I am willing to bet more than a handful of them purchased the EP before the first transition to trippy EDM after three minutes. I’m sure there will be opinions abound on this new transition (they have ventured into electronics like this before, but perhaps not quite as excessively), but personally, I don’t love it. At the same time, I like that they are doing it, if that makes any sense. Their rapid release schedule will create content fatigue if they don’t mix it up. However, we’re not here to talk about the music, we’re here figure out the meaning behind it.
You should have seen my face while I listened to the three short tracks. I braced for the inevitable bombardment of Morse Code at the end of the final track, so my sigh of relief when I heard no beeps was nothing short of a gale force wind. But then I got to thinking that there’s no way they left us without a mystery, so I dug further. No, not in the lyrics. I don’t think he’s ever actually saying words (and are those female-made noises in the first track?). So where was the mystery? Where was I supposed to start?
The only hint they provided was the note on the Bandcamp page saying “The end of the chapter we began with .- – . . . . . . . -. – . – . . (Absence). This is Presence.” This super confusing sentence seems to be saying that the last three releases were part of the Absence trilogy, and this EP is the start of a new era. But is there a hint as to what is coming, and when? I think so.
Mesarthim were on a cycle of LP, EP, EP, but now, starting with the EP, I have to assume they are flipping the cycle. The distance between the two EPs in the previous trilogy was 9 days. The distance between the two EPs before those was 12 days. Seeing as Mesarthim runs on a base three cycle and the number of cycles is shrinking by one, we should expect that they will have another EP out on April 30 or May 6 if they are reversing cycle on that too.
That was easy enough, but what about what to expect? The feminine sounding vocals and the weird synthy dance music can only mean one thing: the resurgence of a modernized LONGBUTTZ. It seemed like a stretch to me at first too, but watch this. By now I am sure everyone has noticed the 80s resurgence in fashion, TV and movies, and of course, synth pop. Mesarthim are showing they are capable, if called upon, to join this movement. The secret is that they already have been called by the queen of putting the nail in the coffin, opening the lid again, and nailing it back down until the plot has dissolved into pure absurdity. That’s right, I’m talking about Jenji Kohan, creator of OITNB and Weeds. How could I know this? Well, the cover image for Presence is the breaking up of Comet 332P, and if you add the first two numbers you get 6, as in June, the 6th month. But what day?
Stop me if you see where I’m going with this.
If you multiply the remaining number, 2, by 16 (P’s position in the alphabet) you get 32, but since there is no 32nd day in June you obviously flip them and get 23. See, the connection is easy. Mesarthim are obviously announcing to the world that they will be the musical producers for something coming on June 23rd. That thing must also have an 80s theme. In no time at all, you will realize the only answer is GLOW, a new Netflix show about women’s wrestling in the 80s starring Alison Brie, which is sure to contain no shortage of longbuttz. It all makes sense. Wake up sheeple.
(But seriously, if I had to guess, there are some weird jumbled up vocal recordings on “Presence”, steel drum vaporwave, and other “human” touches throughout, so maybe these albums will have more signals picked up from distant planets as a theme? There are also some connections to be made with the tracks titled “Eschaton” and The Great Filter from the previous LP, but deciphering those now would be a further stretch than predicting GLOW’s soundtrack.)
