by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
We haven’t heard much from Chris Natividad in the past few years outside of a Marbled Eye contribution to Hardly Art’s 15th anniversary single series. Perhaps it’s because he’s been hard at work on a new Public Interest record, bringing his once solo project to life as a full band. Spiritual Pollution, due out April 7th via Erste Theke Tontraeger (Pinch Points, Crisis Man, The Gobs), takes everything that made the project’s debut an underground favorite and expands on the ideas with added muscle, live drums (courtesy of Andrew Oswald) and a refined sonic focus that adds clarity without stripping the raw tension. Natividad is making claustrophobic post-punk, oozing with propulsive beats, deadpan vocals, and plenty of electronic dissonance. The music is cold but warped, slinking between the shadows and a dismal reality, a bleak landscape that takes a hard look at our modern age.
“Residue,” the upcoming record’s second single (following the motorik boogie of “Undone”), comes shuffling to life with locked in guitars, a massive upbeat rhythm, and what probably classifies as one of Public Interest’s brightest compositions. There are subtle washes of reverb, big swaying beats, and Natividad’s vocals hinting at a sense of melody, something like the light shimmering it’s way through heavy clouds. With a tinge of gothic echoes and surging guitar, Public Interest explore their community, observing from afar. With so many nuanced twists that appear momentarily before disappearing just as fast, the recording - produced by Oswald, mixed by Ben Greenberg, and mastered by Greg Obis - does a phenomenal job to make each bent note and kinetic beat felt in full.