Hello, my friends, hope you are well and still fighting the good fight despite the crater-filling cronyism and nepotism on display right now, causing copious amounts of stress and disturbing even the most altruistic amongst us. Never fear because our musicians are here to help us continue our journey out of lockdown, and now it’s my good friend Symren Gharial who steps into the dimly lit hallway to present us with the notorious ‘High Rise Vampires’. Addiction is an illness that wreaks havoc, it is incredibly difficult to measure and plot a course of treatment when your demons are commanding and zealous. To me the high-rise idea puts me right at the heart of the misery of Grenfell, that along with and other societal and familial tragedies will never leave us ordinary folk, we suffer, always, and this very agony is captured here, crushing yet light as a feather, perpetuating a nightmare that we will never wake from. You can feel the ice -cold snap on your nape, the frozen hand upon your shoulder, will it get better as you get older?
Another utterly terrifying subject is racism, many have experienced this directly and it is not limited to ethnic groups, although they are predominantly targeted. Symren received ‘Death Threats’ an horrific abuse that sees people capitalise where they feel they have dominion over you due to their skin colour. The term ‘white privilege’ is used to highlight the inequality that exists in our world. The arrangements and subtleties on this record are exquisite, mind-blowing and simultaneously mind-numbing, overpowering without force. It is a gentle tug in the right direction for those who are open to dialogue, understanding and representation. Amongst the decimation, we celebrate, the birth of his baby daughter, ‘Amaya’ who features proudly on this EP, and revel in the wonder and miracle of a baby’s heartbeat, so pure, innocent and untouched by perversion. The emotive and quite eerie photography that mirrors our darkness is a necessary inclusion, a stark reminder of the plight and despair that seems fiendishly sempiternal. We walk through the funky fusion vibes of this ‘Crystal World’ journeying from the suffocating death of lockdown into the new era, as it beckons, yet we are wary and jittery, frail from our woes.
As our history has shown us, we still endure the loss of heaven that could have been, that should have been, and for some vexatious reason continue to dwell with the agonies of Hell.
A soundtrack that is plucky and vehement in its execution, and notably a viable reason to discharge ourselves from the chains and tortures and embrace a chance to be reborn, to be rebuilt and to be alive.
Azra Pathan
Primitive Ignorant – Life Or Death EP out 4th November via Something In Construction Records