Capac
Former Liverpool-based digital wizards back with long-awaited follow up to Pastels, Getintothis’ Paul Higham plugs in.
Cult Liverpool electronic quartet Capac are back with a new self-released EP on November 10.
The new record follows on from their 2010 EP, Pastels, which was released to much fanfare online and resulted in slots playing alongside the likes of Braids at Sound City and Suuns at Liverpool Music Week.
For those unfamiliar with Capac, their sound is not all that easy to pin down. Yes, they are at their core an electronic band in which programmed techno beats and prominent use of synthesisers provide a base for their atmospheric soundscapes. Yet Capac belie easy categorisation. While some electronic music can veer to the cold and calculated, the collective deal in rich atmospheres and paranoid claustrophobia that can at times recall Massive Attack.
Equally apparent are strong post-rock influences, not dissimilar to the, at times, uncomfortable and overtly political music created by Montreal’s Godspeed You! Black Emperor. More than most, Capac feel like both a reflection of and an antidote to the uncertain and anxiety-ridden world in which we live.
The new EP leads with Nested which provides further evidence of the band’s talents, and, according to their press-release, explores themes of ‘loss and decay in a fractured, fragmented and compartmentalised modern world’.
A subtle and ever so slightly funky beat weaves around a deep and gut-churning bass-line into something that, although danceable, retains an edge of discomfort and unease. The refrain ‘the ravens are coming’ hints at a foreboding that becomes apparent as the stark lyrical imagery reveals itself further. A metaphor it seems for a world in which the powerful prey on the defenceless and vulnerable.
If the opener is anything to go by, the remainder of the EP will be a must-hear upon release. With this and a full-length LP due to follow some time next spring, these are exciting times a band held in high regard in the deepest reaches of the digital stratosphere.
