CULTCHILD is a child born of despair in 2019, says the official biography of this witch-house project, which, as the genre demands, reveals very little. Phoenix-based artist Franklin Howard began creating music to accompany video game streams before quickly becoming obsessed with oppressive bass and sinister electronics. His new album, Sunstealer, released in total independence, comes just a few months after D A R K F O R E S T.
With CULTCHILD, we appreciate efficiency from the outset. There's rhythmic efficiency, like the very EBM Outrunning the Wolves to start things off, but above all there's the ability to create gloomy atmospheres with tortured samples and suffocating bass (Melding Plague). Anguish, threat, alienation (the musical gimmick repeated to the point of madness in Yellowstone), melancholy (the funereal strings of the title track and their post-apocalyptic mood are of the finest effect): CULTCHILD goes through several negative emotions, several variations on darkness.
When some favour melodies, the producer's approach is more rhythmic and percussive, more physical. The result is a heaviness that can be crushing (F.U.G.M.R.E.M.I.X.I, with its heavyweight bass and almost doomy trap shadows) or, on the contrary, a psychedelic panic (the frantic rhythm of the IDM/breakcore Illusions/ILLUSIONS). This gives the album a palpable thickness, a ruthless industrial touch (In Pain//In Stasis, whose strident sounds test the listener's nerves) whose noisy outbursts and sound design give Sunstealer all its unholy flavour.
At a time when electronics are increasingly invaded by AIs, we can't help but appreciate this offering, whose tortured soul is expressed in the noise howls of the machines, right down to the organically painted artwork. CULTCHILD's nightmares have a palpable quality, an aggressive darkness that makes them stand out for their theatricality and intensity. If you're looking to get a good night's sleep and suffocate in the darkness, you've come to the right place.
