untrue review

I have a bit of a pet theory as to what makes something art. Namely, I think art is something that expresses the (or rather, a) human experience in a way more compact and more meaningful than you could fit in an equivalent literal work. Like a compression algorithm for the soul, distilling that which makes us human into a consumable chunk, somehow expanding to fit the person experiencing it.

If that definition is accurate, Untrue might just be the most artistic album ever made.

The rolling drums sit somewhere between a heartbeat and a train running along a poorly maintained track. The vocals are stripped of everything except the most vulnerable bits of humanity that lie at their core. The entire experience manages to be expansive and ambient enough to feel like it exists within its own universe, yet has enough direction to feel like someone living in it. Like walking through an empty alley at night, there a vibrant bleakness to it, an intense calm. Like an indentation in the dirt which implies a rock used to be there, it's a revealing emptiness.

It's a feeling more than an album, and one I expect will change based on the listener. It's hard to discuss or criticise from a technical perspective because of how coarse it is by nature. The slightly off-beat drums could be taken as a "mistake" or "flaw", but they undeniably make the album better for their presence. I am sure this album will age and very likely not hit nearly as hard for people 20 years down the line, but only because it so accurately describers a particular feeling in a particular situation which won't be a common 20 years down the line. It's a frozen moment of time we can return to, perfectly preserved for as long as we have digital media.

I may not believe in "perfect" albums, but if I did this would be it. Masterpiece.