ISSUE #42
The World as We Know It
By Figueroa
One of many monikers carved out over the course of nearly a decade, Figueroa is the psychedelic folk side project of Brazilian-American experimental music guru Amon Tobin, one of the wildest innovators in the electronic (and now folk) music scene.
Out today, The World as We Know It is an 8-track 31 minute LP heavily featuring bright, clean guitars, heavily affected vocals and swirling, melancholic organs. The drums are possibly the most obvious clue as to who is pulling the strings behind Figueroa - a combination of brushed jazz, rock and breakbeat rhythms that have appeared in Amon Tobin tracks as early as his 1997 album Bricolage. Mostly uptempo, The World as We Know It is changeable as the wind in its tone, swapping major and minor keys as easily as the weather changes in Portland. Tobin’s voice is often cloaked in a mirage of harmony and further warped by flangers and sweeps and reverb, stretching and echoing like the distant voice of a sherpa during a psychedelic vision quest.
Guitar is the bedrock of the album, played in a variety of styles but almost always at an aggressive tempo. Complex fingerpicking patterns (Do Right), flamenco style strumming and even completely programmed tapping segments - supposedly impossible to play without 14 fingers (Weather Girl) - all make appearances. Sometimes the tone distorts wildly (Better Run), adding to an atmosphere not unlike a fugue state or a foreign bazaar. Bass is minimal on the album, related to the background, or occasionally played so high as to be indistinguishable from the myriad guitar lines.
While most tracks are thick slices of sound and texture, an immaculately timed interlude titled Don’t Be a Bitch steps the tempo down, loses the drums for shakers and other percussion, and strikes a slightly more whimsical tone. An acoustic guitar is strummed in a simple pattern of off-kilter-but-sunny chords while a clean electric lead bubbles up from the depths of a syrupy tremolo to join a similarly wobbly organ in a what could be a drunken church sermon or particularly hallucinogenic game of ring around the rosey.
The album closer Back to the Stars takes the exotic timbres experienced so far a step further, adding what sounds like a detuned harpsichord (or its eastern cousin) to the mix alongside driving drums and a complex multi-part harmony that croons “Everything lives, everything dies… back to the stars, all in good time” like the ringmaster of a great cosmic circus, calm and confident amongst the swirling chaos of existence in the knowledge of a singular grand path, invisible to the human eye.
Amon Tobin’s ISAM project. Courtesy of The Quietus.
The World as We Know It is a singularly fascinating album and an impressive feat of engineering once you read into its creation. The synthesis of instruments that sound completely organic, the immaculate distortion of Amon’s voice, and the composition of songs that tread the line between psych rock, electronica and folk are all marvels of the man’s vast musical knowledge and experience - and to top it all off, the album was recorded and produced in part by Sylvia Massey, who has worked with legendary bands such as Tool, System of a Down and Johnny Cash. The album becomes even more impressive when put alongside the other side projects attributed to Amon Tobin - the aggressive wasteland rhythms of Two Fingers, distorted garage rock of Only Child Tyrant, and of course the wide ranging electronic creations of Amon’s self titled works over the last 30 years. The man has released 5 albums since 2018, and quality has not suffered. That is a triumph in itself that deserves our attention.
Let us know what you think of The World as We Know It, and treat yourself to some other tunes by this musical madman. If you’re wondering what else came out today, follow our weekly NMF playlist Currently Bumping. Thanks for reading!
♥ Zach
