Have A Nice Life
The Unnatural World
The Flenser
Street: 02.04
Have A Nice Life = A Place To Bury Strangers x True Widow x Phil Collins
I’ve never been in a sensory deprivation chamber before, but The Unnatural World renders an audial consciousness for me similar to how I imagine that complete darkness—except for Have A Nice Life flash wet, silver lights of sound. Opener “Guggenheim Wax Museum” ekes in at around 67 BPM with an electronic wash of sludgy synths and effects-laden guitar that build in frequency atop a robotic e-beat. It picks up with tracks like “Defenstration Song” and “Unholy Life,” which drive with a merciless yet upbeat, coldwave pep—pop in the age of Blade Runner. Other songs comb relentlessly depressive plains—“Emptiness Will Eat The Witch” closes the record with funereal remorse wherein the pent-up noise finally dissipates to a guitar etude. “Burial Society” anchors the record with a sludge-pop song, punctuating an album that is an amalgam of genres and tells a story, though the words are mired between thick sonic walls, sticky with reverb, as they croon with a sorrowful candor. “Music Will Unntune The Sky” (Track 4) is an apt theme for this record. Get this. –Alexander Ortega