Writing about this album is perhaps the trickiest feature we’ve had to do yet. Writing about music isn’t about giving your opinion, in many ways our personal preference is irrelevant. Our job is to try and present the music in a way which introduces you to the content and allows you to form your own opinion. This means we have to really get inside the music and explore the different elements and characteristics.
The more tracks on the release, the more difficult that becomes and when the material is as complex as ‘Churches Schools and Guns’ we really have to dig deep to do justice to the piece we’re covering. A good place to start is to say if you are after bright melodies, rhythm, groove, euphoric vocals and rounded bass then this probably is not for you – in fact there’s barely a beat in sight. We are committed to bringing you the best sounds of the underground and they don’t get further from the mainstream than this.
Lucy is an artist who creates more cerebral, sometimes dissonant layers of atmospheres and unearthly tones fashioned by taking the sounds and ideas of life and reality then pummelling and planishing what remains into different sounds, altogether detached from the original. The truly experimental Churches Schools and Guns is more an artistic narrative of sonic and tonal exploration rather than a collection of productions designed for clubs, festivals or parties. It is perfect score material for films and moods based far away from the everyday.
The title itself is subtly ambivalent with churches, schools and guns all evoking mixed emotions depending on the context and this is reflected throughout the album. A church is a place of worship and sanctuary but can also be synonymous with corruption and abuse. Schools are protective environments for education and learning but the classroom and the teenage years can be the root of anxiety for some. Guns offer security even though they are lethal weapons. The AK-47 for example, is a symbol of resistance. These themes are relevant in that the world that Lucy creates is scary and uncomfortable but also liberating and inquisitive. Like churches, schools and guns, the album offers safety and a hidden sense of danger that you must wrestle with to find peace amongst.
The tracks have a non-terrestrial ambience with so much room and space created by spectral subtleties at each end of the sonic spectrum and the album questions the reliability of perception, reality and the human condition. Not recommended for the faint hearted, Lucy’s 12 track epic is out on the 17th of February on his own label Stroboscopic Artefacts.
