We’re living in uncertain times. In times like this, turning to an album like The Kite String Tangle’s latest offering ‘C()D3X’ – with its dark atmospherics, heavy beats and gritty samples that emulate with many of our own inner thoughts right now – feels more than appropriate.
Within the first few seconds of hearing the album’s title track, I knew I could relate to the chaotic melody, swirling synths and rumbling vocal samples. ‘C()D3X’ may be a purely instrumental piece, but as always, The Kite String Tangle has still found a way to wriggle his way into my tumultuous inner world and make me feel a bit more understood.
As the album goes on, a light begins to shine in with The Kite String Tangle’s own soft vocals filling the darker melodies with a sprinkle of sweetness. Even though the opening lyrics of ‘P()L4R’ are “it feels like the beginning of the end”, you can still feel the sun shining in on the shadowy room the melody creates. Soon, after injecting some real swagger into ‘NINON DE L’ENCLOS’, the hopeful energy you only felt a glimpse of in ‘P()L4R’ feels free on ‘KILLING TIME’, with The Kite String Tangle and Eliott’s beautiful harmonies. It’s sweet and from here on in and although those rough synths from ‘C()D3X’ are still prevalent, they seem to lose the fight against the brighter elements on ‘LANDSLIDE’ and ‘IRIS’.
Was ‘C()D3X’ meant to resonate so closely with 2020 by giving us such an eerie beginning and a more hopeful end? Probably not, but The Kite String Tangle has created an album that not only feels like a soundtrack for our unstable times but also offers hope and connection to those of us in dire need of it.
Stream: Exist. Recordings / Warner Australia
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