Single Review: One Way Please

It’s been interesting watching this artist explore and develop their style over time. When I last checked in, I think it was around April – the track was Madre Naturaleza, Cruddy was still producing dark industrial sound-scapes. Something has changed since then. Perhaps something inside the face behind Cruddy, or perhaps it’s seasonal.

There’s one immediately noticeable difference with July’s entry in Cruddy’s (roughly) track-a-month musical journey; words. It wasn’t the voice one would expect to be behind the man who made White Polka Dot Dress. It has tones of Beatles and A Momentary Lapse of Reason-era Pink Floyd float over the choral waves of Nikki Ngatai’s vocal accompaniment.

My first reading of the lyrics went to a Near Death Experience-like narrative. Perhaps it was the angelic operatives of Ngatai’s harmony, or the ICU ambience of the music. Maybe it was because I was sitting at my work desk in the hospital. But the police scanner canvas over which this track is painted took me to a more literal and real journey, one from the provinces to the city. A more open mind will make up their own meaning; a closed one will just listen to the music.

OK, there are two noticeable differences. Though an evolving soundscape it remains, the music has taken a softer shape. The edges and peaks are snow covered. It’s colder, and less claustrophobic like stepping out of the dark comfort of a bedroom out onto the street. It’s slower, with more despair, and less disdain. Lo-fi piano and synthesised strings replace the distorted riffs and licks. Distant echoes like thunder replace the drum lines.

Winter is about to deepen. Let’s see which crossroad August’s installment in the Cruddy saga takes. Dark disdain, or cold introspection.