They’re digging mass graves for the dead, didn’t you hear? They’re throwing the deceased in a hole together because the death rate is higher than that which funeral homes can deal. And it’s almost as though Justin Schmidt foresaw it while recording Feuerwerk, their debut record under the moniker X Harlow. It’s almost as though they could tell such doom would necessitate a soundtrack. Having been on countless bills for the past few years, both as X Harlow and with their band Blu Anxxiety, Schmidt is a pillar of both punk and electronic music in NYC, and their first single, “Graves,” is a backing for dancing on the ashes into which the world is turning right before our eyes.
A muffled sequence of synthesizer chirping and beeping opens to a flurry of earthshaking percussion and Schmidt’s cold, alluring drone. The narrative intensifies, as a lamenting voice wails out the beautifully mesmerizing melody. Like a banshee crying for the missteps of the living who have it so good they don’t even know it. “Stay inside” is embedded in its mournful tone. “It’s better to be on that side of earth.” The composition barrels on towards its glitching conclusion, fizzling out into the ether, like the mortality being snuffed out right before our eyes. But with tremolo.
Feuerwerk is out April 24 via We Be Friends Records.