Aural Aggravation

Prophecy Productions

Christopher Nosnibor

Ahead of the release if their seventh full-length album, A Pathway to the Moon, Unreqvited, the Canadian blackgaze solo-project of 鬼 (Ghost), has unveiled a new lyric visualiser for ‘Void Essence / Frozen Tears’. While it’s a timely taster for the album it’s also a reminder that singles are something of a rarity nowadays. I can’t help but feel that this is a significant loss. Perhaps not so much for acts like Unreqvited, whose singles are unlikely to garner radio play or drive the same kind of album-buying traction singles would in the 80s or 90s. The Internet has certainly changed our habits when it comes to music consumption, and while one may reasonably argue that the old industry model was a massive con on so many levels, we not longer appreciate the single as we once did. Singles were an art, and not only the kind pitched to radio play, and not only the standalone release which bridged spaces between albums and perhaps indicated a transition for an artist.

While it’s true that singles far too long for radio have been around since living memory (The Orb’s ‘Little Fluffy Clouds’ and ‘Psychonaut’ by Fields of the Nephilim spring to mind, but let’s not forget the songs radio made exceptions for, like ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and ‘American Pie’), it’s really only with the advent of the digital stream that ten-minute singles have become commonplace. It is, of course, much easier when terrestrial radio play isn’t on the cards, and fitting a track onto a side of vinyl isn’t something which requires consideration either.

If the demise of the single as we used to know it has one positive, it’s that artists are no longer constrained or limited by these boundaries. You want to release a single track that’s three hours long with no interruptions? No problem. No physical release and probably no audience, but no problem. Anyway. ‘Void Essence / Frozen’ is a single released as a lyric video, as seems to be popular right now. It may not be especial popular with me, but that’s neither here nor there.

According to the press release, ‘UNREQVITED explain: “The final advance track, ‘Void Essence / Frozen’ reveals the causatum of its antecedent, traversing vehemently into the undistinguished”, mastermind 鬼 comments. “Obstreperous yet endowed in euphony, it emblematizes a juncture in the greater odyssey by which it subsists. Redolent of prior opera, it is an ardent offering to the fervent disciple.”’ ‘Explain’ may be a rather generous overstatement, but it’s a bold counteractive stance against the perpetual dumbing down and overt aversion to anything which could feasibly construed as art in mainstream culture in recent years.

Clocking in at nine minutes, ‘Void Essence / Frozen Tears’ is but a brief interlude following ‘The Antimatter’. It’s also something of a contrast to its full-blooded raging guitar assault, with a graceful, chiming guitar. It takes a while for the rapid kick-drumming to hit and propel the guitar, by now soaring high, into the stratosphere.

There is so much detail, so much texture subtly woven into the fabric of this epic, epic composition, and then, around the mid-point, the vocals finally arrive. The screaming anguish is almost submerged in the mix… and then, suddenly, we’re adrift in space, airless. An ambient calm descends for a time, paving the way for the ultimate theatrical climax.

The album is now set for release on February 7, 2025.

AA