26th January 2024
Christopher Nosnibor
New year, new lineup, new project… having wrapped up their ‘open-ended’ album project Songs from the Black Hat and been whittled down to a three-piece, the prodigiously productive Argonaut herald the arrival of 2024 with a song for Dry January. They describe ‘The Hole’ as ‘A ten minute hymn to sobriety, hibernation and transcending the January blues. A lullaby of heartfelt harmonies trailing into ambient drone to aid deep, meditative alcohol free sleep…’
Lyrically, it’s sparse, and self-explanatory:
People say it’s hard
Because there’s a hole
A gap in your heart
A space in your soul
But I say it’s easy
Because the hole is a bin
To throw the self destructive thoughts
And all the alcohol in
I’m not one for dry January myself, although I certainly respect anyone who does, and I certainly get it. A lot of people do very much overdo it in December, stretching festivities out over the entire month. There are work dos, friends and family to catch up with, and more often than not, doing so involves feed and drink. It’s no wonder people feel like shit and feel the need to quit booze, go on a diet, do Veganuary, and take out a gym membership while making a new year’s resolution to lose the stone or so they gained the previous month.
Perhaps what’s every bit as hard as demonstrating brutal discipline in January – the darkest, bleakest month of the year – is maintaining moderation the whole year round. Such asceticism isn’t easy in such grim times: people naturally seek comfort in food and whatever else makes them feel better – and it’s alright if it makes you feel better, to lift a line from Shellac’s ‘Song of the Minerals’.
I digress: ‘The Hole’ does mark a significant shift for Argonaut, who have pushed forth strongly pursuing a trajectory of snappy to the point songs best defined as choppy lo-fi indie / post-punk crossover with lots of fuzz and reverb. This is a dreamy, drifty dronezer, dominated by thick reverb-soaked synths which surge and swell, ebb and flow. It very much does transport s back to the early 90s on so many levels. It’s not quite The Orb, but it is a very spacey effort which is predominantly instrumental and built around the repetitio of a synth wave and looped bass – or xylophone, or something – sequence of a handful of notes. And so it goes (and yes, I’m referencing Vonnegut there). And it goes… and it goes. It is every bit as meditative and ambient as they suggest, and I can feel my blood pressure dropping as the track progresses.
Counterpart release / nominal B-side, the ‘ambient mix’ runs for some twenty-two minutes, and it’s a thrumming buzz, a piece which stings like a swarm of bees frustrated at their confinement. It’s more of a track to let drift over your, rather than one to listen to intently. But this ‘Post-industrial ambience for urban meditation’ is far from soothing, even by candlelight. The tones are serrated around the edges, and possess a certain edge of aggression. Perhaps I need another whisky. Make it a double.
AA
Aural Aggravation 