Cassette + 36 Page Book
Been waiting on this for a minute, having only previously been available via Bandcamp. Putting aside global pandemics and general human apocalypse, Capricorn surely qualifies as one of the surprises of the year, seemingly arriving out of nowhere with both a sharp eye for detail and rare aesthetic cohesion (and that's before we even consider the artwork). Powers has pieced together an eight song collection of mostly instrumental electronic experiments that are refreshingly supple and elegant, drawing upon a variety of sonic tropes - ambient, drone, minimal electronics, environmental music, post-OPN/Arca future pop, field recordings and the odd distorted vocal sample. What's immediately striking about this is just how richly musical the entire set is. Language fails us somewhat, but to understand this in the context of the oft repeated labels of 'ambient' or, say, 'minimal' feels like a disservice to music that is densely layered and astutely composed, yet struck with a unique sense of decay, a corrupt AI orchestra grasping at human understanding (and nearly getting there). More of that broken down computer aesthetic, but emotionally wider, bigger somehow, charged with what feels like an almost cinematic drama. Powers has a previous life of writing hugely popular dreampop ballads with a homespun feel, and that songcraft hasn't left him. It's simply found form in new, abstracted expressions. Not much out there exactly like this.
