Review Summary: ‘CHILD DEATH’ tries to act tough with its “brutal” album cover and title, but deep down it is a sweet and beautiful unworldly album. Beckoning anyone to judge it by its looks. The perfect return to the wet and luscious world that is Balam Acab.
Balam Acab, aka Alec Koone, is a Pennsylvanian based experimental electronic producer. Releasing his debut EP ‘See Birds’ in 2010 and then his debut album ‘Wander / Wonder’ the year after under the label Tri Angle Records. ‘Wander / Wonder’ received critical acclaim in the underground scene as one of the most unique albums of the year and possibly decade, being labelled a “modern classic”. Koone’s musical style is heavily influenced by Witch House and Chillwave, among various other styles, basing his music heavily around water; soft drips and splish-splashing water samples with angelic vocals and synth layers creating lush and beautiful melodies, giving the listener the sense that what they’re listening to isn’t quite from this world.
Since his debut, Koone has remained quite dormant, almost disappearing all together with false hope for a return of a second album. One can assume it is due to Koone's possible scrapping of ideas and or dealing with copyright issues. But over the past few months or so he has suddenly been quite active on social media, asking for fans to send in vocals for possible sampling and eventually hinting of an album in the works titled ‘CHILD DEATH’. Early in October he dropped a small preview which was then taken down a day or so later eventually stating that he had planned to release his sophomore album before the end of the year, but as December arrived people were still waiting for an official date. On the 5th of December the album artwork and track titles were released which consisted of a very small 5 track album that span’s across roughly 33 minutes. Friday 18th he announced that ‘CHILD DEATH’ will be released approximately 9PM EST that night, this sudden release was put up on Bandcamp as a digital download for $5 ($6.97 AUD). Due to Koone doing all the promoting himself and relying on his fanbase to help out solidified that he is most likely no longer under the label Tri Angle Records (which may change once (hopefully) physical releases are announced).
On the release Alec Koone didn’t allow any streaming, Tweeting “the reason I don’t like to stream is bc I like the 1st listen to be in 1 sitting and in HQ”. He also said that the reason why he released it at such an odd time is because listening to it at night was the ideal environment. Taking this into account I decided to follow his aesthetic approach, I switched off the lights and I drifted into his realm.
The album cover looks like a bad-ass Death Metal album, which goes hand in hand with the album title too. At first, the opener ‘GLORY SICKNESS’ shows some slight Metal influences, which is very quickly abolished as the track sonically expands into a lush wave of ambient melodic beauty. Soft twinkly synth chimes and reverbed falsetto female vocals float in and glide across this ever expanding layered soundscape and we begin to see the Balam Acab we all know and love. As the track develops the drum beat and musical arrangement complement each other perfectly as you begin to realise just how much Koone’s musical and production skills have developed and improved over the years.
As you listen throughout the album there are small hints of Metal elements that appear here and there, but they all eventually get consumed by the immense lush sounds Koone creates. You can’t help but think that Koone wanted to get every possible outcome on each track. The majority of the tracks evolve and change so much that at times it feels a bit all over the place. But it works. It really works. If you were to listen to a track at the start and then you were to get distracted you’d come back midway through and probably think it was a new track playing entirely. This is undoubtedly due to the fact that some of the track lengths span across 5-8+ minutes, but this is far from a bad thing. Each track is so interesting and layered that each listen becomes more and more enjoyable. Trying to decipher the vocal samples is near impossible, but they’re not used for lyrical purpose but melodic purposes instead; Koone uses these vocal samples as instruments that soothe the soul.
My personal standout track is ‘ANDIWILLTELLU’, which happens to be the longest track, spreading across the 8mins45 mark. Koone truly pushes this track to its limits, implementing every idea and effort to his best ability and it is truly something special. The listener can imagine themselves floating through this world of soft lush blue light as they watch everything pass by them and the track inevitably becomes bigger and more exciting. Towards the last quarter of the track the song takes a sudden change in direction, kind of like a Metal influenced breakdown/ballad that ends the track with the listener wanting more.
The album closer focuses the most on the ‘water’ thematic; giving it the fitting title ‘UNDERWATER FOREVER’. The first half takes you back to ‘Wander / Wonder’, as you hear the swirling/ dripping sounds of cave water and angelic female harmonies slowly get introduced with beautiful twinkling chimes that build with layer upon layer. The vocal samples and the evolving drums getting more complex and exciting as the track develops. Koone layers so many sounds that the world he has created feels like it’s almost going to break apart and collapse in on itself.
‘CHILD DEATH’ tries to act tough with its “brutal” album cover and title, but deep down it is a sweet and beautiful unworldly album. Beckoning anyone to judge it by its looks. ‘CHILD DEATH’ isn’t just an album you critique straight away, you’ve got to be patient with it and pick apart its complexities. It is truly something that gets better after every listen.
So I hope you haven’t written your end-of-year list yet, because ‘CHILD DEATH’ is possibly one of the most interesting albums of the year, not just sonically, but because of the way it came to be. Alec Koone outdoes himself with ‘CHILD DEATH’ as it is his best production yet, and it may very well be hailed as another future classic among fans.
‘CHILD DEATH’ is a grand journey; the perfect return to the wet and luscious world that is Balam Acab.
Album Cover: 3/10 (poorly conveys albums intentions and sound aesthetics)
OVERALL: 8/10
