Amidst nomadic synth swells, a nearly automated voice coos semi-absently in bloom: “I can make you feel this song when I can’t even feel this song.” Although the textures stirring in “Iris Kyle” are content — even cheerful — they stumble and wander belligerently as the watery voice delivers its deadpan ballad. The voice itself is the signature of the still anonymous “Erica Eso” muse, a hybrid voice inflected with tinges of autotune and cyborgian gender text, intepellating itself in feminine code, she croons: “manipulate your body you’re a woman body builder.” As the futuristic force that stands in as the group’s namesake, her origin and identity still remain unclear; the mystery is complicated by group mastermind and synthesist Weston Minasalli’s own mother delivering Eso’s cryptic message. Her presence is complicated within the albums conceptual framework:
gender it
i feel words
tomboy drippin’ til we smell the rain
atlantic it
As the cathartic centerpiece from this autumn’s excellent 2019 LP, the video for “Iris Kyle” clues us in to more of the subtle details that help manufacture Erica Eso’s world: lace, feather, spires, clay, all in white. Watch above and grab the album/scope upcoming performances over at Ramp Local Records.
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