Review: Pulsipher – “Isip (Stateslaver Edition)” [enrmp285]
I seldom pick up a piece of music, listen to it, and feel moved enough by it to write an editorial on it. However, this particular release was much too damning for me not to comment on; and so here I am once again, exploring myself indirectly through the sounds of another artist, fumbling as I try to make sense out of the music that I’m hearing, how it makes me feel, and the thoughts behind the words that I am typing. In a world that has become over-saturated with the characteristic qualities of commercial music, it’s not every day that you come across music of this caliber – to say the least.
Pulsipher is a musical artist (or project) based in Poland. The driving force(s) behind the music is/are currently unknown. The project’s debut album, entitled “Isip”, is just as mysterious as the enigmatic figures who helped create it. Although the release is best described as being experimental, dark ambient, [post] industrial music with some breakcore influences, I think it’s best to respect the music for what it is – not what the labels attempt to characterize it as.
Pulsipher makes the type of music that drives me mad trying to understand. I’ll listen to it endlessly; exploring the music in an attempt to further comprehend the artist’s original message, meaning, or intent behind the piece. “Isip” conjures a haunting curiosity inside you that begs to be further understood. The more you listen, the quicker you start to realize you may need to listen closer (and/or deeper) to interpret the expression of the artist; and the deeper and closer you become with the music, the quicker you start to realize that the music is actually struggling to understand you more than you are with the music. It’s usually in that moment you pause for personal reflection.
I’m grateful for artists like Pulsipher. Releases like “Isip” remind me that the world of true art is still a limitless one full of unadultered expression; a world that could never be bound by commercial standards, nor could it be bound by industrialization.
I don’t think I could ever rate this album. This album seems very content just the way it is.
And the way it is is beautiful.