"Yeah I'm helpless / yeah I'm sorry / but I'm thankful you're a soldier"
| Aethernet album cover by Fax Gang. |
Last year saw the release of FxG3000, which put a spotlight on the group Fax Gang. Their songwriting on that EP combined with their quirky bit-crushed beats provided a refreshing sound that was emblematic of the rather closed-off lives of internet teens. Come the turn of a new year, and the quintuplet have out-done themselves on so many levels and layers that it isn't even funny.
Aethernet is busy. There's a handful of tracks that bookend with cacophonous glitching, seemingly bursting out of any coherence from the sheer cluster that is the instrumental before being quickly recaptured to not overwhelm the sound of the record, if only for a track or two. The drums bustle and clap away at an anxious pace and never really let up, even on comparatively calmer tracks like Itsumo or Shotgun. PK Shellboy and the guest vocalists constantly sound like they're one slide of the bit-crusher away from dissolving into complete and utter gibberish. There's tracks here like lead single Anything To Gain/Nothing To Lose where the synths collide and layer against each other but only barely poke out above everything else.
Despite the seemingly frenetic mixing and composition of everything, there's a very melancholic beauty to everything. The melodies crooned by Shellboy are cathartic and tear-jerking, serving to provide a point of relief in the wave constantly-shifting instrumentals. The synthesizers twinkle cutely and elegantly snap themselves in harmony with Shellboy's vocals. In the few moments where the album calms down enough to give you more clarity on what is going on, such as Fallen, there's a 2000s-esque pop flourish that is harrowing. The added Hatsune Miku vocals on the bridge aid in fleshing out this sombre atmosphere and "lost" tone that I adore greatly.
Under all of the rubble of the distortion lies some of the most poignant lyricism I've seen in a pop-oriented album like this. Imagery of shotguns being pointed to heads, people chained to bedposts, and staring into mirrors all contribute to a blunt but strangely comforting depiction of the mental woes of Shellboy, allowing the listener to connect on a level that provides a level of catharsis that is unmatched by even the most practiced lyricists. ALIEN DAYS's feature on the second track starts out rather calmly before
roaring about not being able to connect with reality, before ending
with Shellboy reciting an excerpt of a Robert Frost poem about needing
to tread miles before being able to sleep. Fallen describes in heart-wrenching metaphors of the self-sabotaging mentality that allows one to sink lower into a depressive slump.
Fax Gang is an important group in music right now. In only two years of existence, they've managed to hone their craft for production and lyricism to such a point of mastery that it seems almost dramatic in nature. They serve as a testament to the HexD scene's power beyond bit-crushed mixes and purely texture-based practices such as that, providing what would seem to be a point of reference for other rap and pop artists to follow suit.
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