“Spirit” is credited to Beathaven, whose avatar is the piercing visage of a supermodel, while the track’s cover image is an uncanny valley of human destitution drawn from the work of photographer Antanas Sutkus. The music emits the sleek, focused ferocity of the former and the abject sentiment of the latter. The sole accompanying note to the track is a mere six letters, “beauty,” suggesting the subject at hand is located at both ends of the spectrum, and perhaps not in between.
As for “Sprit,” is is a highly accomplished industrial drone, with all the gears in the foreground, the chatter of the factory reduced to a corroded through-line of rhythmic abrasives. There are occasions when the sparks fly, and others when the hum overcomes the machinations. The overall effect is of a creaky manufacturing plant left to long-running, deeply rooted, and long-unquestioned protocols, entirely devoid of purpose beyond its own continued functioning. Which is to say, it’s quite beautiful.
Track originally posted at soundcloud.com/606303, which is the Beathaven account. Beathaven’s releases have appeared on the English label Midievil Records, more from whom at midievil-records.bandcamp.com.