It’s oddly unnerving and sets the pace for a hesitant and peculiar journey through the 8 track-album. Beginning with “Bitch,” which White Lines and Versace (WLAV) never quite comes right out to say and instead carefully only alludes to and heavily masks under breathy synths, MEAT is a dramatic instrumental album that seems to aim to make you uncomfortable and glancing over your shoulders even when you’re sure you’re in the clear.
If it were a horror film, we’d be the confused and suspicious group of reluctant teens who had no idea that a cabin the middle of the woods offered on Air BNB for such a great affordable price in middle of the hottest summer we’d seen in years could possibly be owned by a serial killer, but the signs were tough to miss once we got there.
“Uh” is almost taunting in its scrupulous repetition, almost fading away to suggest its end several times before it returns, like the gleeful tapping of a tree branch swaying in the wind on the half-cracked window pane.
By “Annihilation” we’ve got a good sense of the trouble we’ve found ourselves into. Sporadic metallic banging in the distance suggests a war zone and the looming droning through reminiscent of bomber planes passing overhead. The beat picks up in an almost jovial way suggesting the kind of excitement a young teen on their first Call of Duty mission would have as they whip through their new heavy artillery options. If war is the inspiration for this track, WLAV composed the scene for us perfectly and I’m officially on edge.
We get a bit of a break from the tension during “Taste” and it’s much welcomed. Our shoulders fall back with each bow of the strings and we’re able to bop and bubble along with the beat. The synth’s get a bit more inter-terrestrial here which really help take us out of the war zone that preceded it and we breath a sigh of relief as this feeling carries on into “Love & Destruction”.
Perhaps the most calming of the album, Love & Destruction feels more like a fun space odyssey than the horrifying places we arrived from off the top of MEAT. However; it’s for that same reason that we’re bound to remain skeptical and alert, just as those teens in the woods should be when they’re oh so sure they’ve gotten to safety as they speed down the dirt road, but still aren’t home yet. It’s easy to immerse yourself into this track and fall into a meditative lull, even as some heavy white noise begins to pan through your headphones just after the 2 minute mark, almost abrasively reminding you to expect the unexpected before the track trickles out to its gentle end.
“Meat,” the track where this album gets its namesake, sounds like European industrial-psych rock coming from an old radio when it enters the mix. We imagine it must be what the serial killer we got away from earlier listens to in his creepy basement lair when he’s plotting a new terrifying mind game for his cabin-guests. Heavy on the synths and bass, the rhythm never really lets up and it sharply cuts through with only modest breaks where they drop out, serving to land the next batch of chords heavier and more intimidating than the last. If electro-creepcore isn’t a genre yet, WLAV must’ve invented it with this album.
“Another Psycho” rustles our nervous system again and its heavy bass thumps settle themselves in the pit of our stomach. There is a lot floating around in all directions of this one, with sharp staccato strings popping left and right on a whim and unusual saw synths pulsing in and out of the holes they leave. WLAV plays with some interesting production techniques in this track, bringing the production back through that old radio and at times its almost as though we’re leaving the room and it’s traumatizing auditory illusions inside it, only to be brought back in with encouraged apprehension.
Finally, we come to a resolution with “Heartbreaker” which allows us to enter a dream-like state as though we’re floating above the destruction below and into a new realm where such things don’t ever happen. Or did any of it even happen at all?
White Lines and Versace’s MEAT is available everywhere on March 22nd, 2024
Follow WLAV on their social media channels to keep up with their work and be ready when the MEAT drops.
Crooked Forest 