by Mick Reed (@thasoundblog)
There are times when I feel like I'm struggling to keep my finger on the pulse of contemporary art and societal change while living in the Midwest. Things happen on the coasts, and I only know about them from what I see on Instagram and Twitter, or read second-hand through Vice. Then I listen to bands like NYC's post-hardcore and noise-armored argonauts Human Impact, and it reminds me of how not being at the center of that relentless flailing spectacle is probably good for my psyche. The so-called culture inundating the internet from ether coast is actually just the hollow death rattle of late-capitalism and not any meaningful dispatch of human catharsis after all. In reality, New York City is as welcoming of a playground for Sonic Youth as it is for the Trumps (actually even more so for the later), and the common denominator between the two is money and name recognition. Two things that you can still survive without in the rust belt. Although that's changing too. Whether it be Giuliani's and Bloomberg's surveillance states, the zombifying effects of mass media, or the quicksand of gentrification that slowly suffocates the people living in an urban environment as it swallows them whole, so goes NYC and LA, so goes the country. Drawing from a world where human ingenuity and meat-space interactions still mattered, Human Impact paints a cautious picture of humanity with the wherewithal to still avoid the traps laid out before it, if only narrowly.
Human Impact is chiefly Unsane's vocalist and guitarist, Chris Spencer, who recently announced the disbanding of his form artistic vehicle, to pursue a venture with his new band full time. Speaking to Equilibrio Precario, Spencer is quoted as saying "I won't be playing in Unsane anymore," and later clarifying on social media, that he was proud of what Unsane had accomplished, but that he'd rather leave on a "good note." Seemingly no pun intended. Spencer is joined in Human Impact by Swans bassist Chris Pravdica, keyboardist Jim Coleman of Cop Shoot Cop, and drummer Phil Puleo, also of Cop Shoot Cop. If you were hoping for more Unsane's misanthropic, knives out dirges, you're unfortunately in the wrong place. Significantly, Human Impact's sound is more indebted to the industrial dance flavored punk of the late '90s and early '00s, while retaining the blunt force, bearer melting strike, reminiscent of well-aged, post-hardcore cavalry like Helmet. This is undoubtedly the case on tracks like "Portrait" where the band sounds like a more mature version of At the Drive-In at their most brooding. Other post-hardcore hallmarks inform tracks like "Unstable" which has a distinctly Quicksand like feel, and "Consequences" with its adrenaline pricking horn accompaniments, and other jazz-rock conceits, all of which appear to borrow heavily from NoMeansNo's playbook. Where Human Impact really hits its stride, though, is on the more subdued and searching "E605," where Spencer questions a unit of consciousness, presumably a human being, or their managerial substitute, on existential questions of meaning and priority of action, in cold accusatory spurts. It's post-punky whirl and crash is strongly divergent from Spencer's back catalog and a bold new direction for all of the band's compatriots to embark on. The band seems to be most comfortable with its self when embracing its own twisted desire to meld human sounds with those of machines. This fact is apparent on tracks like "Protester," which rocks uneasily on its anchoring groove while being bullied by bright glaring synths and reeling electronics, and on closer "The Dead Sea" which roils in an angsty mist of acidic electronic cacophony. It's not Unsane, but it will definitely leave you feeling uneasy.
I can identify with the weary angst of Human Impact's self-titled debut, even if I never lived in the places, and at the times that inspired it. It's an album that is searching for a former clarity amongst the flurry of distractions that define our very plugged-in lives. When this album is most successful, its pained cries cut through the thick low-frequency static of information that surrounds us and provides a bit of breathing room to hold up and collect one's thoughts. Not every track hits with the same piercing impact, but when it hits the mark, the results are as devastating as they are liberating. If this is where Spencer is committed to working from here on out, then I think the rest of us should count ourselves lucky, as the project is a powerful act of controlled demolition that seeks to level the false idols of our current age. An act that is as worthy of his legacy and as it is necessary for our future.