inkmink is one of my favorite artists on CLLCT. i think he is also one of the more underrated artists on this lovely DIY collective. he seems to be an expert on creating and expanding on subtle feelings (and sometimes not so subtle feelings). personally for me, listening to his music invokes feelings from my childhood and from dreams…wonder, bewilderment and the occasional fleeting thought of monsters in the closet or under the bed or maybe even sneaking up right behind you.
this particular album starts off more energetically than most of the other inkmink albums i have listened . the entire album still has plenty of ambient lushness, but it also has it’s nervous, glitchy moments, purring synths and some hip-hoppy beat breakdowns.
here’s what the album description on CLLCT says:
“The 6th proper full length from inkmink. Future Laser animals and a small pod of humans trying to coexist. Is it possible to stay afloat in this new world when a mysterious outsider joins your camp and seems to be plotting some disastrous deed? Yes. Yes it is.”
sounds like a good story to me. but since i feel like reviewing this artist’s work in any rational way would not do it any justice, i will also offer my own abstract experiential interpretation of this album instead of a conventional review.
“IUOUI” pulls you down a road you are unsure of. you have never seen this place before, but you follow, walking quickly as the roads curves a bit frantically. you slow down as it begins to rain. “Silk Silk Silk Silk Silk Water” is falling fast and it feels good in the warm air. you remember playing with your brother at age 10 as you splash through puddles and laugh at the drooling sky. exhausted, you plop down at the base of a tree to rest. you are dreaming your way along as “Bear Fin Soup” plucks an eternal tune that is resting in the infinite fold between memory and (im)possibility. you are dreaming…or could it be that you are waking up? your head rushes and you feel yourself snap back into your body, but everything seems lighter and fluffier as “We Eat Whatever the Arrow Hits” echoes all sharp edges out of existence. you stand up realizing your legs no longer feel so much like jello. ‘”I Never Miss,” he says.’ pulls your foot forward as you half stumble, half skip down a large hill. when you get to the bottom, you stop. you become hypnotized by the lights you hear moving all around you, even though you are not sure if they are actually there. suddenly, “It’s Gone. It Was Never There”. you blink in bewilderment and keep walking towards a sound that might be water. the rivers of hiss in “The Memories of Sounds are Ghosts in My Ears” flow in and out of gentle jittering tones and into a pool of some kind of strange cosmic goo. ‘”We all think it’s best if you leave”‘ dreams you through the ceiling and leaves you bouncing on tiptoe through a glass forest, where you are shaken abruptly from your play by a shadow wolf in “Claws Cause Pause”. you try to run away but your legs don’t seem to be moving. he’s toying with you as you struggle to get away and are pulled back by your torn pants leg and then snapped up by his slobbering maw. your vision fades to white as you look upon the first bardo in “Cracked Skull and Suddenly I See Things”. your body is dying, but your mind is still resonating with that last tone that dripped into your perception.
listen or download for free at: http://cllct.com/release/keepingupwiththewolvesacoldlifeinacoldworld0
check out all inkmink releases at: http://cllct.com/art/inkmink
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