What control do we have over our own lives? Our livelihoods are at the whim of the corporate persona who employs us. Our government tithes subject to whatever expense lines the most political pockets. Our minds are captive to the fear and famine and opulence and avarice beamed into our homes. We trade our attention for promises of security and our numbers on a screen for promises of abundance, but we’re left wanting for both. The mesmerizing dystopic electronic due of SABASABA have crafted a captivating sonic and visual story about one version of our future. “Desert Cathedral,” directed by Blak Saagan, shows us where a society of scanning codes and tracing movements leads to. With a slow, methodical beat pierced by the hum of a mournful melody, “Desert Cathedral” feels like an omen we should all be heeding right now. An omen to notice our own existence and our own thoughts outside of the barrage of endless opinion and endless consumption and endless massacre. Their record Unknown City is out on February 9th via Maple Death Records — pre-order it here.
The duo of Andrea Marini (synth, guitar, electronics, tapes) and Gabriele Maggiorotto (drums, percussion, effects, programming) return with their most political manifesto yet, an intricate musical essay inspired by China Miéville’s novel ‘The City And The City’, examining border control, repression, an unknown city where people move like ghosts without personality and without communicating, monitored on sight by the authorities. ‘Unknown City’ is an album for dark isolationists but also for people trying to connect, striving for freedom, be it primordial, celestial or written in dust.
