04 February 2020

GRAHAM REPULSKI


Several GRAHAM REPULSKI releases have passed over my keyboard over several years as a self imposed sonic pundit, and I'm consistently struck by his ability to make tortured bedroom pop sound so incredibly fukkd up. It's entirely possible that he's actually making tortured and drug addled depression sound like bedroom pop, but that gets into some cause/effect discussion that's better reserved for another venue. Released at the start of 2018, Negative Highlight Reel is among the more advanced of Repulski's 20+ releases - drum machine pop hides behind a shroud of experimental aural assemblages, a series of collages that blur the lines between presentations and/or actualities. The recording closes with a proto-raga that barely holds after the brief Ranaldo/Shields/Rev-esque wash of "Kimp Notch" fades away, and it leaves me with a yearning for more that I have rarely experienced - I was anxious that it was over because it was all gone too soon. And the anxiety of absence can describe much of the approach here, and overwhelming feeling of want that GRAHAM REPULSKI has been able to consistently deliver over almost a decade of (intense) productivity. 


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