Track Premiere: CARTHAGE – “las maquinas no paran de hablar”
u up?
A shade of shoegaze, a pinch of post-punk, an ambitious amount of Ambien(t), a nanosecond of noise, a trifle of trip hop. This is the awful way I chose to tell you that what we’ve got for you today isn’t exactly metal (although there might be a mite of that, as well).
CARTHAGE blends all the above elements and more into a hazy mix on their upcoming sophomore, Duskdawn. Bits and pieces, sometimes disparate, sometimes harmonizing, flicker and float and glide and glitch over and through the songs’ loose scaffolding, creating an effect that can be as cozy as it is disquieting. This dreamlike quality makes perfect sense considering what sole member Damian B says about the genesis of the music:
“Many of the tracks were written late at night, and into the early hours — a process which inspired the title — and over time became a depiction of an alternative reality which was occurring.”
As an example of that, we present the album’s closer, “las maquinas no paran de hablar.” With distorted guitars fading in and out and a sturdy beat providing a constant backbone, this one doesn’t throw you into the deep end right away, making for a good introduction to CARTHAGE’s sound. Droning synths, snatches of guitar melodies, and the haunting guest vocals by Daniela VK might still make you question reality though, as the song
“[…] follows a path into a wilderness where a sound is heard. Closer to the source of the sound, it is apparent that the machine is decaying from a fault and cannot be repaired, but for now they continue.”
Duskdawn will be released on March 7 via labels GIVE/TAKE and Justin K Broadrick’s Avalanche Studios—Broadrick also mastered the record.
Pre-orders are available through this link, and if you’re not doing anything on release day, feel free to join the listening party at 7 PM CST and be swept away in good company. Follow CARTHAGE or GIVE/TAKE on Bandcamp to get the invite.
