Have a Nice Life - Deathconscioussness
Enemies List Home Recordings/The Flenser
24th of January, 2008.
Have a Nice Life's seismic and sprawling 'Deathconscioussness' sits at the forefront of the double-album-epic category of music albums. Covering a staggering amount of ground and honing in on the darker side of the psyche, the crushing weight of existential angst is sonically summed up over the course of its runtime. Tying the realms of post-rock, shoegaze and lo-fi, to name a few, together, Deathconscioussness exists as a standalone piece - a one of one. Consider it a gem in the crown of contemporary heavyweights.
Opening on the soothing 'A Quick One Before the Eternal Worm Devours Connecticut', Have a Nice Life set the stage for an introspective and ultimately captivating experience - the layers of 'something's wrong' reveal themselves as time goes on. Like a scab that just won't heal, it tends to bleed right when you thought things were beginning to look up - the past comes back into view. Unattended baggage warrants unwanted, but necessary, attention. The bottomless pit is well and truly bottomless - a vacuous space which engulfs all that get tangled in its grip. Deathconscioussness delves in to what can only be regarded as a deep, deep depression. The light at the end of the tunnel is a train, and it's heading down your track.
Everyday existence must get better than this, surely. The suffering must come to an end - but would that render life pointless? Suffering sits at the center of this thing we call life. Making sure that you're suffering for something that you value gives it at least some sort of bearable 'meaning' - something to live for, strive to become. A bearing which guides you forward loosens up the hum of existence - maybe not entirely, but at least a little. The ever-evasive answers to which you seek are out there, but waiting for them to find you is a futile way of navigating the uncomfortable seas of experience. You must stand on your own two feet, put them one in front of the other, and let life know that you mean business.
Life can be long and unbearably slow, but as long as you take things as they come, it will be fine. Reality isn't out to get you, it's the fairest of referees. Reality responds to what you give it. Why not give it something to really work with?
Dan Barrett and Tim Macuga, for a sum reported to be less that $1000, created something of a beautifully burdensome and thickly layered sonic behemoth.
