‘I’m wasting my time looking for the signs, I’ve wasted my life waiting for the signs’.
My friends today I am in the company of Graphic Nature, and their debut release ‘A Mind Waiting To Die’ having previously been intrigued by Pupil Slicer, I thought I’d take a gander.
There is an instrumental introduction which is sinister and foretelling the horrors to come and then at 1.32 in ‘Sour’ you have it ‘just leave me to fucking die’ it’s too late to turn back now, I’ve crossed that line.
The images match the ferocity of the words, singer Harvey Freeman is passionate about mental health and is adamant that it is not talked about properly and comprehensively. His cohorts are Pete Woolven on guitar, Matas Michailovskis on guitar, Charlie Smith on bass and Jack Bowdery on drums, together they bring an unflinching approach, not for the squeamish or the faint hearted, they mean business and business needs to be dealt with.
The one-two punch to the gut of ‘Into The Dark/ Bad Blood’ has mind-bending, chilling, Aphex Twin and Skrillex vibes, cruising through the streets with the deadbeats and lowlifes, full of hurt and anger, and hopelessness for the desperation and destitution.
The sadistic brutality of killing conceptualised in ‘Killing Floor’ depicts the thoughts and actions of those driven to commit the absolute taboo of taking a life.
The drum and bass attack accentuates the journey through the hellscape, the essence of rave and primitive instincts, and the harrowing ‘what the fuck is going on? Why is this happening to me?’ all crush your insides to a pulp. The ever urgent static on the visualisers connects the songs and provides the continuity. The neurodivergent members of our world get a mention in ‘White Noise’ explicitly detailing their struggle and their anxieties. The complex world they inhabit is something people on the outside may never understand, Graphic Nature give you a much needed lesson.
We go on with a short dialogue set to music, the spookily majestic ‘A Twin’ is a perfect incarnation of the horror genre, enrapturing and contorting everything you see and feel. Personally, I take the lyric ‘you know you’ve done this, and you’ll do it again’ as my warning sign, accept what I cannot change and make my own path away from it.
I am willing to bet we will all see something that we recognise of our lives on this record, it has been done before I know, this time however I feel it is taking that step further into acknowledging and addressing the actual issues, scary stuff for sure, but there is no other way forward. Graphic Nature are visceral, vocal and volatile, a dangerous concoction, but a cocktail worth drinking if we are to get better in a very real sense. As the heavens open and we are blessed with ‘The Downpour’ avail yourselves to be cleansed, be purified and reborn, because the notion of waiting for death is not a pleasant option. The intermittent beeping throughout is a constant reminder of a hospital, where lives are in the balance as the machines attempt to restore what has been damaged, heed the warnings, our minds can only take so much. Prayers up for peace of mind, for stability and for positivity for everyone.
Azra Pathan
Graphic Nature – A Mind Waiting To Die out now