I think I will forever be interested in the point at which a “song” begins resembling something else. At what point does this nebulous form cross the threshold into another type of material? Conversely, at what point do more experimental forms begin resembling a song? What I find particularly fascinating about this is that there isn’t a singular answer to these questions. Context, production/arrangement, proportionality, and tonality all factor into this but the transition into other forms can very rarely be traced to any one source.
The music of Warbler PI (real name: Mars-Hall Forśe Walker) most certainly wrestles with these questions and very much confronts the ontology of “song” and “pop” music as signifiers. We’re unquestionably dealing with “songs” on Space: Where Neon Signs Go To Die but they’re often exploded and warped into works that defy these terms. Opener “Space” makes this immediately apparent with it’s backdrop of motorik rhythms and glitching samples that eventually give way to melody after several minutes. However, the second half of “Space” and the subsequent lovely “Pennsylvania, 1950’s Winter” act as red herrings to the brooding ambiance to come on the towering “Recycled Emotions”. Walker intentionally establishes a song form so that he can destroy it and then eventually move back into and out of it with the final two tracks.
This dichotomy of destruction and re-construction seems integral to Walker’s music especially when looking at the foot note that “all samples [are] original.” Perhaps this music is the result of destroying then rebuilding songs until the world that they inhabit is stretched out into a territory that transcends traditional notions of what they were in the first place. Whatever’s going on here, it’s clear that Walker is making some pretty great music that defies easy contextualization or form.
Space: Where Neon Signs Go To Die is out now on Manmaker Records.
• Manmaker Records: https://www.manmakerrecords.bandcamp.com
More about: Warbler PI
