Back in 2012, Blanck Mass sounded optimistic. Ben Power’s one-man electro-noise project (distinct from his work as part of the duo Fuck Buttons) was best known for his ambient headrush of a composition, Sundowner, which was used as part of the soundtrack for Danny Boyle’s buoyant Olympics opening ceremony. But, as the political mood of the country continued to sour, Power’s work darkened in response, leading up to 2017’s snarling World Eater, and now Animated Violence Mild: an album where blind rage and beauty commingle. In the accompanying press release, Power describes how the record was born of grief – he wrote it while musing on how consumerism is destroying our planet. In the final stages of recording, his father died, and so he also began processing this deeply personal loss alongside his global mourning.
Don’t expect Power to ease you gently into this cacophony of extreme emotion: early track Death Drop is one of his most furious, abrasive works to date. Alongside the insistent thrum of Love Is a Parasite, he conveys the violence of a world destroying itself. But woven into the tapestry are also moments of lightness, whether in the form of heart-aching scattered vocal samples on Hush Money, the trance melody on House Vs House, or the sudden entrance of a harp on Creature/West Fuqua. Just like the grief it communicates, this album can’t be reduced to something linear, instead surprising you at every turn: one moment terrifying, the next, transcendent.
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