Naltrexone – “Forever Screaming”

 

Naltrexone

Category: Experimental
Album: Forever Screaming

Tasmania’s Naltrexone has self-released two CDs, small efforts, easily available free online, and I have been fortunate enough to have received a copy of the second.

I will not describe the listening material of the CD, Forever Screaming, as “great” or “enjoyable,” but I think that the music does present some interesting points.

Described by the band itself as an “bemused contrivance,” the point is made clear in saying that there is a “complete lack of pleasure in the sound” and that the goal “wasn’t attempting to make good music but to question the very assumption of what good music is.” And I applaud the band for its effort to inject a personal meaning into its own music, to use music as a tool of self-discovery and understanding one’s place in the writing process.

The music itself is not great. It’s comprised of loops, samples, vocals, and the occasional instrumentation, all mangled, stretched, compressed, and distorted out of shape. The assemblages are usually interestingly peppy and strangely enchanting, veering from a tone similar to that of the DJ-era electronica in the background of your average commercial to twitchy noise collages to spoken word over noise and light melodies. I found myself a bit detached but rather enjoying the product itself. While some tracks drone on with experimental touches, others stop long before their interest even reaches its peak.

I think that the band may have sold itself short by saying that there is no pleasure in the sound. It’s not your typical pleasure, but the construction of the songs and the elements chosen often delight in the simple and uncharacteristic ways they combine, even when the intention for them to isn’t there.

 

from ReGen Magazine (~10/2004)