SHLOHMO – Buried
aaamusic | On 16, Apr 2015
Taking a cut off his new LP Dark Red, Shlohmo takes a step backwards in time with all its analog imperfections in the wavering and tremulous ringings that emanate throughout his latest single ‘Buried’.
A groaning synth spends some time alone in the opening with the soft whispering of white noise accompanying; just one of the deliberate but subtle kinks given to the production that make this track so wonderfully anachronistic. For the first half, the track is a builder. A stark guitar cries over and implants it’s despairing melody inside of your head to stay there for long after you’re finished listening to the song.
Over this building section and afterwards, growing percussive elements become forcefully present. Instead of becoming more cluttered or complex, the drums become heavier. It’s almost an 80s ballad in ways, considering the massive chamber reverb-laden drums that beat down ever so meaningfully as well as the much welcome run time of this track, just short of seven minutes. With the approach taken to ‘Buried’, any less time nurturing it would make it seem like a filler.
Dark Red has come out of Shlohmo’s dealings with the deaths and health issues of those close to him, which he feels reflects in the music whether he “likes it or not”. He also claims that he wanted it to be “devastating and violent” in its loudness. Through the choices of sounds and the way they are displayed, this piece emotes so much and signifies that Shlohmo may have effortlessly achieved what he was going for, possibly due to the tough time he has been forced through. He achieves a big, authoritative, endearingly flawed and convincing sound without forcing a thing.
