Equinox - It's Hard To Be Happy When Your Head Is Full Of Sin (Recordiau Prin)
DL / Ltd CD
26 June 2017
9.5/10
Review by Amy.
The debut
album by Equinox is a collaborative effort which sees various artists, some
familiar, some not so come together to produce a body a work greater than the
sum of its parts. There's some amazing
talent onboard and one can only imagine how much organising the logistics of a
project like this must have taken, but it just goes to prove what a labour of
love this has been (and still is).
The opening
line on any album should set the entire work up, draw the listener in, even
provoke them if you can, 'I know what I'm
doing is wrong, but, I just can't help myself' is a bold statement and about as
honest an exposition as you can get and begins a theme that continues throughout. 'It's
Hard to be Happy when your Head is full of Sin' is a collection of poems that
doesn't cover the world with the rose tinted filter we've all become so
accustomed to, no, this is more likely to peel your eyes open to reveal the
real, gritty world that really goes on around and amongst us, weaving it's
truths - pretty or not - between our ears.
The listener is taken on a journey through the darker side of human
nature, exposing not only the poet's innermost private thoughts but the
listener's too - it's unsettling and that's what makes it so good.
The voice of
Equinox is sincere, desperate, accusatory, resigned, self-loathing, raw,
visceral, spitting one minute then
yearning to be noticed by his subject the next.
There's a battle raging throughout
all the pieces, tangible in places, almost like the poet is tussling with
himself, never quite satisfied, always feeling like there's something more,
always hungry, ready to devour anything including himself if it means he might
get some peace or some kind of resolution.
This unsettled discontent will probably make the listener feel uneasy,
it's something that will rattle around your head for days, this unknown voice
that seems to know exactly who you are
- there is a familiarity and
warmth to the voice but you've been warned it will reach down into your soul
and latch onto your very core with every sinewy finger it has, good luck
shaking it loose.
'Somebody Too' (featuring Rosie Bans) really
stands out, the instrumentation lets the words breathe, luring you into a false
sense of security by lurking quietly in the shadows before pouncing at you with
an almost heartbreaking instrumental, it really captures the essence of what
this project is about. Vince Clarke
provides an hypnotizing, daze inducing soundtrack to 'Goodnight Vienna' which
makes it very difficult to move onto the next piece. 'Mule' is interesting, musically speaking
it's the lightest sounding track on the album, almost trespassing on Shoegaze
territory, however, don't let that fool you - those light fuzzy guitars
meandering in the background provide a
stark contrast to the bitter and self-depreciative 'this stubborn old mule has
nothing to give' line.
Overall,
considering how many different artists and styles that feature on this album it
still feels very cohesive. This is an
album of contradictions and of contrasts, whether that be the words of Equinox
himself or the soundtracks that accompany them - some tracks are drenched in
noise while some are barely noticeable. There are apocalyptic, mechanical
almost verging on Krautrock riffs from Deux Furieuses one minute then a simple
atmospheric piano provided by Will Harris the next - I could easily write a
standalone review for every single track as they're all so different but, just
trust me when I tell you to just listen to the damn thing and let it strip you
of any previous conceptions you had of yourself - the profundity of the words/themes/subject
matter will (or should) resonate with a lot of inner narratives. Prepare to see yourself and the rest of the
Human Race very differently.
