I know what you’re (possibly) thinking. Here comes another album riding the wave of the ASMR hype tsunami in part set in motion by the Holly Herndon track “Lonely at the Top” (from the album Platform), and so now we’re imminently subject to roughly 50 minutes of a woman whispering nothings that are as sweet as they are creepy. Fortunately, those who shudder at the thought of being deliberately made to shudder can rest easy, because the title of Magic Fades’ newest album isn’t a reference to the popular tingling sensation thoroughly explored via YouTube, but something independently deemed “Augmented Sapiosexual Misanthropic Relationships.” Don’t bother breaking out the psych textbook for clarification; Mike Grabarek and Jeremy Scott have assured us that such relationships “allow all walks of life the psychasthenetic gift of cyborgian liberation.”
A.S.M.R. is a concept album out October 17, and in a format departure from previous MF releases, it’ll be delivered digitally and as a “one of a kind USB package” courtesy of the Paris-based multimedia label PERMALNK. There’s also a PERMALNK webspace dedicated to the promotion of the album, and if you don’t stare at the page long enough to burst into flames yourself, you may find yourself meandering over to the Bandcamp pre-order page, which may be resolved and contain clips of the album at some point. It doesn’t seem like too big of a musical step from their much-loved collaboration with the also-Portland-based Soul Ipsum.
It’s relatively different and a bit more heterogeneous though, to be sure. I wish I had a track to share.
A.S.M.R. tracklisting:
01. Bobby Ascends
02. ConstruKction Of Light.PNG
03. Feral Child Village
04. Changing Industry
05. Entering The Room Of Glass
06. Mozart’s Timeline
07. Battery Life Edging
08. Gucci Diaphragm
09. I Can’t Tell You Why
10. Body Port Abuse Rehab
11. Pacific Coast Oil Spill
12. Solar Powered Surveillance Camera
13. 24 Karat Razor Wire
14. DJ Agoraphobia
15. Doomsday Trigger Warning
More about: Magic Fades
