Description
The Analog Vault // Essential Listening
The Analog Vault is supremely honoured to be working with .gif for their first-ever vinyl release on TAV Records.
.gif have earned critical comparison to the likes of Bjork, Yukimi Nagano, The xx and Portishead, but the illustrious pair have managed to retain a fresh and unique dynamic to their chimerical sound, one that proved so compelling that the pair began filling a void of their own making within the Singaporean music scene.
Following the acclaim of their past releases, .gif’s sophomore LP HAIL NOTHINGstill showcases the haunting vocals, deft lyricism and obsidian production that has become their distinctive sound. The album is named after a line in Ernest Hemingway’s A Clean Well Lighted Place – “Hail nothing full of nothing, nothing is with thee.”
The duo digs deeper on HAIL NOTHING; an ode to chaos and nothingness, a love song to the void. Expanding on their synth-driven soundscapes, haunting vocals and poignant lyrics, the album also features guests Bani Haykal and Usaama Minhas.
The band’s previous output garnered acclaim from the likes of VICE, Earmilk, Indie Shuffle and FasterLouder, .gif’s sophomore LP HAIL NOTHING still showcases the haunting vocals, deft lyricism and obsidian production that has become their distinctive sound. The album is named after a line in Ernest Hemingways A Clean Well Lighted Place Hail nothing full of nothing, nothing is with thee.
Heavily informed by postmodern literature, film and theatre, .gifs work has always grappled with themes of alienation, displacement, loneliness; the impossibility of forming any real human connection.
In HAIL NOTHING, however, .gif imagine Sisyphus happy, as Albert Camus famously wrote in The Myth of Sisyphus. Where their previous worksaudade EP and soma LPhad been defined by a rainyday despair and a longing for purpose, their new album is an aggressive attempt to break free from melancholy. A more joyful approach to existential dread, HAIL NOTHING embraces the absenceor inscrutability ofmeaning as something not cruel or suffocating, but liberating.
Darker, grittier and bolder than ever before, .gif now treads a unique balance between triphop, post punk and slow driving techno. The album confronts the listener with raw, dirty synthesisers and vigorous arpeggiation, the nuance of Din’s sonorous beats enhanced and brought to life by Jason Tan’s savvy production work. Their robust instrumentation plays magnificently into Weishs spellbinding vocal melodies, her voice evocatively alternating between tautness and ache, reckless abandon, and sombre poetry.
Known for their unexpected and formbending collaborations, .gif have often worked with artists across different disciplines, from poets to playwrights. Here in HAIL NOTHING, the pair introduce two exciting firsttime collaborators.
The opening track ONLY YOURS showcases the iconic vocals and rich lyricism of celebrated multi-disciplinary artist and local luminary Bani Haykal of BQuartet.
Later in the record, DONE (done done) features prize-winning British poet and spoken word artist Usaama Minhas, whom .gif shared a lineup with in Cambridge during their 2018 UK tour.
Unapologetic and no longer afraid, HAIL NOTHING dances blithely into the void, celebrating the great chaos and wonderful arbitrariness of existence.
Label: TAV Records
Format: Vinyl, LP
Released: 2020
Genre: Electronic
Style: Techno, Downtempo, Synthwave, Darkwave
File under: TAV Essential Listening
File under: Electronic
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