My reaction after finishing my first listen of this release (which the artist describes as "one song about siphonophores and one song about siphonophores"), was of entertained perplexity. I liked the songs very much but at the same time I had several questions, the first one being "what is a siphonophore exactly?".
A quick Wikipedia search answered that. They are basically jellyfishes' weird cousins (I never thought one day I would have to say this sentence, jellyfishes are already pretty weird creature to start with). Also, scrolling down the article I discovered that Praya Dubia (title of the first song) is one member of this family of lovely creatures.
Ok, let's focus on the music. The two songs share some similarities in terms of sound, due to the crackling basslines, the heavy reverb, and the lo-fi character of the instruments. "Severed", the second track has a more aggressive attitude, while "Praya Dubia" is more quiet but maintains an eerie atmosphere thanks to the dissonances in the backing track and the "horror-film-nursery-rhyme" approach of the vocals. Overall, we could label this work as industrial-pop with noise elements, a very interesting and not so common mix. Everything feels very raw but there is a clear vision, and I'm not even sure that a more polished production would actually improve these tracks.
The lyrics are also interesting. Regarding them, the album notes simply say "leftover identity fragments". And we go back to the Siphonophores: according to their Wikipedia page they 'blur the line between individual and colonial organisms'. Are the lyrics referring to that? Is it a metaphor for us humans, who can be selfish and individualistic but we need each other to survive? Or is it just about sea creatures and I'm looking too much into it?
In conclusion: an enigmatic release, with its unique appeal that encouraged me to go explore lacuna moth's discography a bit further, and I don't want to give spoilers because I hope they submit more of their music for reviewing but I'm liking what I hear. So, dear reader, why not starting from here to get to know lacuna moth?
