I remember when I was young, an artist named Kit Williams released a picture book called Masquerade. It contained a number of intricate drawings filled with hidden clues and coded meanings. The idea was that if you could decode all of these complex puzzles, they would reveal the location of a golden statue worth a lot of money. Listening to The Earthly Frames feels a lot like that.
The Earthly Frames is the solo project of one Gabriel Walsh and it would be fair to say that he has eclectic sonic tastes. From one album to the next, he might wander classical realms or warped rock byways, groovesome, dance-fueled digiti-scapes or merely do a bit of musical avant-gardening.
Cicatrise Dud sees him ploughing a robotic, electronic furrow, blending gentle grooves with futuristic vocal treatments. His messages and meanings are locked up in dexterous digital sounds or seemingly mathy electro-hooks. He washes this with the ebb and flow of shimmering sonic sheens and synthetic musical motifs. But what does it all mean? Everything. Nothing. Whatever you need it to.
Just as a footnote, the golden statue in question wasn’t found by anyone who undertook the decoding of the book but accidentally by someone walking their small dog. Perhaps that is just the universe reminding us, as Buddha himself said, that it is better to travel well than to arrive. Enjoy the journey!
https://www.earthlyframes.com/
https://www.instagram.com/earthlyframes/
https://twitter.com/earthly_the
