Dylan Rippon`s album `Destroy the Now` is released this month on vinyl. The inspiration behind the album came from the violence of digital life, the way it ‘destroys the now.’
The album opens with `Listen` which has a kind of melodic eighties new wave feel with lyrics that veer from hopefulness to a kind of fear of a dystopian future with that tremor of anxiety spliced throughout the vocals. There`s a swaying synth-based dance like ambience to `Futurismo` which may refer to a point of view that finds meaning or fulfilment in the future rather than in the past or present. A song made for Antonio Sant’Elia, an Italian architect who imagined skyscrapers and futuristic city scapes but was killed in the First World War before he ever saw his dreams come true.
I read that `Möbius Trip` refers to the ‘eternal return,’ Nietzsche’s horror concept that we are all destined to live our lives again, every thought, decision, and action the same as the first time around. An erratic stop start number with a kind of cinematic sci-fi ambience. Distant remote vocals lead us into `All Too Human` which races along with jangly guitar riffs with lyrics that tries to reassure us that the narrator is human but sounds almost like an android.
`Forever` is a dreamy ballad like love song while `Sunburn` featured on SKYin a recent feature length documentary ‘The Warhol Effect’ which explores the late work and legacy of Andy Warhol. The artist has said it`s a panic attack transformed into glorious light and it does emit a feeling of illumination.
`Momentum` is apparently a prayer and has an erratic backing rhythm allowing a chant or mantra to be shared atop. We end with a song about memory, about losing love long ago with `Divider` which has an aura of loneliness, isolation, and possible abandonment.
`Destroy The Now` is a curious offering which had me contemplating and considering as to what I’d heard at it`s conclusion and feeling as though I should re-listen to the album to understand if I’d missed something or fully appreciated it`s attraction. A release that may will leave you with as many questions as answers.
Rating 8/10
