Any band that can take the life of 19th Century, English philosopher Jeremy Bentham as the subject matter for one single and follow it up with a sonic discussion about the pros and cons of the World Wide Web for the next is clearly a band with a broad and intriguing list of interests. This is demonstrably not a band content to just write songs about cars and girls.
When taken together, those two singles, “Jeremy, Utilitarian Sadboy” and “The Internet,” also speak volumes about the scale of the musical spectrum that Ecce Shnak is happy to wander. Genres and fixed sonic signatures are not the sort of games this band is prepared to play.
So if the previous single was a snarling mesh of technical metal, mathy rock-scapes, and choral interludes, “The Internet” is…well, where do you begin? Deconstructed dance music? Anagramtical indie? Choral music from the future? Alt-alt-alt-alt-rock? Strange-core? Art Attacks? I know that it is my job to put music into words so as to enlighten the reader, but sometimes, even words reach their limits.
And if the music is hard to pin down, as it should always be, the subject matter is more straightforward. But the internet has become such an integral part of modern lives that we are perhaps too close, too invested in it to be best positioned to analyze and acknowledge how odd an invention is. So, Ecce Shnak does the only sensible thing and views it through the eyes of a time-traveling poet, exploring its brilliance and dangers and our habits and horrors as users.
With their latest EP, Shadows Grow Fangs, out soon, you might think this single acts as a “try before you buy” sample. But I argue that Ecce Shnak’s approach to music is so adventurous that no one track, single, or sample of their music could ever be that representative of what they do. It is best to just dive in and let their music carry you along in all its strange, brilliant glory. Life is better when it is full of mystery.
Get the single
Spotify
Prayer on Love video
Spotify
Jeremy, Utilitarian Sadboy video
