We’re not one to admit it but sometimes when we listen to a track for the first time, we throw it on without headphones. We did that with this one, but only got a few seconds in before we’re reminded why putting on a pair is such a critical step.
We weren’t running it through a club PA so we were already missing the low rumble of the heavy bass tumbling into our stomachs but that’s not the part that was really being lost by our otherwise intricate ear.
We hit the rewind button, grabbed our Sennheiser’s and restarted the track.
Thwacking into our heads now we gained better clarity on the highly present electronic drums that drive New Zealand-based Theolonius Kelly’s “How Do You Do It Without Making It Nauseatingly Extravagant”.
The gentle ticking of the hat hat sits just below the bass and snare who maintain a grandiose presence like an enormous ship set to take on a dramatic sea during a heavy storm fall, and that bass line that at first came thinly through our speakers now full and commanding in our headphones, like a captain steering their vessel without hesitation.
And then, as though through an enormous cavern bridging our ship from land to sea comes an ominous wailing. Admittedly, we can’t quite make out the words that they seem, not so much desperate to release but, almost too worn down to push out entirely. They sound almost in mourning as they finish expelling the last of their imperceptible ramblings and it’s easy to imagine one stranded and straining as they begin to wither away into the walls of the cavern that kept them dry during the worst parts of the storm.
Fortunately our despaired soul is met then by the almost jovial casual steps of a synth sequencer that accompanies faint echoes which seem to mirror the anguished tone of the murmured voice that has left us; Either in joint misery to say that they are not alone in this dark, gloomy place, or as a haunting prophetic suggestion that as the voice dissipates into the voice, as does the body it emerged from.
As the drums return, a new bubbling bass synth does as well which successfully pushes the drive of the track as well as moves it into a more upbeat and optimistic space. Our ship, if we’re to continue our initial metaphor, has made it out of the poor weather and chose to follow the siren song of our man within the caves.
It’s a relatively simple production that feels it was mixed a little raw for the soundscapes used. At times it’s as though the arrangement and instrumentation sits in slightly unusual spaces, each one seemingly with their own depth as though they’re all in their own rooms rather than within the same general dimension, but we’re quick to feel as though that’s an intentional choice made by Theolonius and perhaps it is the answer to the question poised by the track’s namesake. Had it been more polished, we’re unsure it would carry the same dreary and perilous atmosphere that we felt during our repeated listens.
The track ends abruptly and we’re unsure of what awaits our courageous captain.
For more by Theolonius Kelly, follow him on Spotify.
Crooked Forest 