"I want this life.”
The debut LP from the New York outfit, Model/Actriz, proves compelling in its romantic poeticism, convoluted in its nihilistic aesthetic.
All is quiet on the Western front. Set “between the hours of dusk and dawn”, a vaguely distant note suddenly rings out, curtailed by some ungodly scratchings tearing through the earth beneath us.
Within the first minute, we're already accustomed to New York’s latest post-rock, industrially-glazed product, Model/Actriz. Traversing through the life of frontman Cole Haden’s tempestuous romanticism, the opener to their debut album, Dogsbody, is brutally befitting - akin to the masochism of Nine Inch Nails’ opener ‘Closer’ or the ethereal brutalism of ‘City Song’ from Daughters.
As the cataclysmic dissonance descends us further into the leading single ‘Mosquito’, Haden’s nihilistic poeticism unfurls, protruding the psyche of an artist to whom love and nature prove deeply intertwined, albeit volatile and complicated. Slate’s gruesome outpouring, “And then it’s bleeding over / Onto my jaw / Onto my neck / Onto the floor / Pours out of my hands / Seeps into the grass”, transcends into the album's subsequent unnerving calmness in ‘Divers’, “Braiding our arms / In the tall grass / Like laying in a palm / Held where clouds bend to breath”. To the benefit of the record, one's never too sure what may come from Haden's state of mind and how things may materialise in his life - a great breadth of emotional turmoil is what's guaranteed.
Haden’s ability to tie the knot between these worlds proves compelling in parts, questionably vapid in others. Swapping his violent imagery for a more calming conclusion to this intimate album, “Lying on our backs, your head on my chest / Finally alone on the hillside / Silent but the sound of our breaths falling / Like petals accumulating”, Haden suddenly rounds off his turbulent quest with an optimistic note “So bright with the sun in my eyes”. Ultimately, one wonders if the previous 40 minutes of scraping through the soil and dirt of the earth was entirely worthwhile, hurriedly disguising the omnipotent sun as a source of sanctuary and consolation in the final few minutes of it all.
Stylistically, Dogsbody contains a multitude of crossovers with the aforementioned, including a nihilistic ferocity of Chat Pile, a violent gruesomeness from Marilyn Manson and a touching, introspective poeticism of Black Country, New Road.
Whilst these myriad influences consume the surface of Model/Actriz’s world, it’s the rhythmic grooves beneath it all which deem compelling. The unnerving quality to initiate off-beat, dance-fuelled structures against Haden’s dystopian backdrop provides the heartbeat to this record, vibrantly pulsating ‘Crossing Guard’ and ‘Slate’, courtesy of the multi-layered drums and bass. Yet none better typifies this inexorable state of doom than lead single ‘Amaranth’, pounding away with a mathematical temerity, expertly captured amidst Haden's crushing disparity with nature, “Amaranth / Opening / Through the noise / Scarlet beckoning”.
For all of the brooding outbursts of rage and frustration, Haden's aspirations for "this life" fades away into the ether held by the record’s initiating note - a pertinent piece of closure, succumbing to an unconvincingly rushed ending.
There’s much at play in the life of Dogsbody, indelibly wearing its emotions and influences on its sleeve. A compelling concoction of the two make for a convincing debut for the New York outfit, looking to carve a way into a saturated scene - one already making way for Haden's poetry and Model/Actriz’s enticing blend of art-punk and noise-rock. Lyrically, they may be there. Stylistically, there’s still more to be desired from a promising act in the making.
7/10
Model/Actriz's debut LP, Dogsbody, is out on February 24th via True Panther Sounds.