MP3: Chicagojazzen - 18 år i en ruttnande kropp
Chicagojazzen's new LP "Misantropi för nybörjare" ("Misanthropy for beginners", out now via on limited vinyl only) plays like an audio sketchbook for a hyperactive imagination. Ideas are cast out, explored and rendered in abstract lofi; a decision guided by what seems to be aesthetic choice as opposed to pure circumstance. Many artists go that route to conceal their lack of talent or to adhere to some sort of genre orthodoxy, but in this particular case I find that the roughness of the sound nicely compliments the roughness of the material. Which is not to say that it works every time -- some songs come across as quite under-composed or even half-assed -- but the overall feeling I get from the record is very positive. I keep listening because I'm intrigued, because I'm curious about the process. So it's hard to isolate a particular instance to give others a best impression; it's preferable that you sit down, put the record on and listen the whole way through, letting your mind wander as the sounds do the same, but I'll try with "18 år i en ruttnande kropp", a seemingly pastoral postrockish piece with a darker undercurrent as befits the title ("18 years in a decaying body"). It builds long and slow before stumbling to an awkward conclusion which, I suppose, is an apt metaphor, though that could just be stream of consciousness running its course and petering out. Regardless, it sounds interesting and the overall tibre never goes exactly where I'd expect. As to where Chicagojazzen goes next as an artist, I'm very curious to hear.
Chicagojazzen - 18 år i en ruttnande kropp