by Charlie Bailey (@hectic_skeptic)
Half of the art-punk duo Spllit, Urq spins his singularly sardonic world into the neat confines of a 4-track cassette Portastudio in his latest solo offering This Dismal Village. An intense mixture of contemporary and almost medieval aesthetics, This Dismal Village tracks a through line in time which largely confronts everpresent bleak truths. A fuzzy realization of lo-fi bedroom pop, frantic psychedelia, and grunge all hazed over by the warm patina of tape provides the backdrop to the deceptively simple but deeply intricate idiosyncratic project.
This Dismal Village offers an intentional DIY sound directed by first-takes. Moving away from digital editing and meticulous crafting, humanity is ingrained in this record which embraces the blips and raw inconsistencies of analog. With every track except for the closer played in a custom tuning, Urq creates uniquely dissonant blends of synth and guitar with themes reappearing with an uncanny familiarity dug out from the far reaches of the mind.
The album unfolds like an 8-bit video game playing out in modern times. We side-scroll through the wreckage and only find out what the album wants us to know, the rest we’re left to fill in on our own. Kicking it off is “Another Mystery,” which instantly throws you into the mix of the atemporal and unfamiliar setting with a frantically hectic guitar loop. As we’re shown around town, interludes squiggle like neon worms pulling you in and out like loading screens. There are intensely energetic tracks, like the tonesetting opener, distant balladic cuts like the opus “King’s In Bed,” and everything in between. In their variance, every track oozes sincerity and offers food for the brain to lose itself into Urq’s fantasy land.
This Dismal Village is complete, fully-realized. It’s best listened to all the way through as it immerses you in a dream state. In an era where first impressions and top comments are the main proprietors informing opinions, layers of childlike intimacy and understanding develop in an album that demands re-listens, and just as easily provides them to welcoming ears. Obscure yet open, This Dismal Village wraps around you like a well loved scarf. There’s an indiscernible charm to the album: the charm of rediscovered oddities, creaking floorboards, a comforting psychedelic trip, and the ease of knowing that when you return the pieces will come together… just maybe not in the way you would’ve thought.