What Weightausend attempts -and quite successfully achieves- on ‘Soot Spectral’ is nothing short of astonishing. A non-song, dozens of clicks and samples, processed densely and weaved with a seemingly fairy-like hand into a bizarre, unforgettable experience.
Weightausend is the moniker for Italian electronic music producer and composer Matthias Girardi, based in Milan. On Girardi’s latest single ‘Soot Spectral’, coming as a quarter of his upcoming 4-song EP, Weightausend is taking us on a short, illuminating, whimsical trip. Utilizing samples and a few home-brewed synth sounds, Weightausend crafted three distinct chapters that boggle the mind in equal measure.
Starting with a quite rhythmic chapter that uses almost no synths at all, relying almost solely on the strange vocal bits and compressed percussions to craft a groove that’s really dynamic, reminiscent of Michael Jackson’s timeless ‘They Don’t Care About Us’. He then moves into a conflicted, agonized transition that sees the introduction of harrowing and ethereal synth pads on top of the same vocal bits and percussive elements disintegrating and losing form, only for them to start to regain composure, only in part, as a support for the now-blossoming pads, and the few gorgeous chords they play.
‘Soot Spectral’ is undeniably bizarre, experimental, and disconcerting, but never for once did it feel like a jarring listen, and that is exactly where Weightausend brightly shines as a skilled producer. To weave such a disjointed set of elements into something this engaging, sensible, and provocative, is a sure sign of immense skill.