What lingers is a sense of disorientation paired with reflection—a portrait of a fractured present, hinting at eventual calm while acknowledging the long aftermath ahead. In that sense, Cartography of Expression stands as both document and inquiry, tracing intersections of sound, voice, and politics while asking how everything arrived at this point.
Forgotten eras stitched into sound
Uncannily distinct electronic terrains unfold across Cartography of Expression—echoing kindred spirits like Secede, Kettel, Teebs, and Shlohmo—where obscure organic shapes seem to form and unravel in real time. It begins with the fragile, bubbling ambience of “the outrage machine,” as Brian Roach, operating as Anhnch, assembles something dreamlike—fragments of forgotten eras stitched into sound.
Disjointed atmospheres and stray field captures drift through the roughened circuitry of “infrastructure of meaninglessness,” while “aggression tautly disguised behind an android smile” flickers with mechanical lightness, gliding over calm melodic undercurrents. Within these currents, Roach settles into a compelling rhythm. Pieces such as the splintered, hip-hop-inflected “america is a gangster nation” carry a weighty, confrontational voice—shadows of early Consolidated, though delivered more calmly, seem to fade in and out—contrasted by the delicate swell of “being unseen is a privilege,” which opens an immense, immersive expanse.
Clarity sharpens as “jamming the drones (abolish ICE)” cuts decisively through modern unrest. Soon after, “harnessing the energy of some hapless star” gathers shifting, wistful electronic fragments into a driving yet atmospheric surge—arguably a defining moment. By the time “the disease of our days…callithump…the disease returns” arrives, form dissolves from hazy tonal clusters into a relentless four-on-the-floor pulse, overwhelming and hypnotic.
What lingers is a sense of disorientation paired with reflection—a portrait of a fractured present, hinting at eventual calm while acknowledging the long aftermath ahead. In that sense, Cartography of Expression stands as both document and inquiry, tracing intersections of sound, voice, and politics while asking how everything arrived at this point.
Cartography of Expression is available on Bandcamp.
