Gentrifiers and tourists can be the fucking worst. And in Edinburgh, home of arts festival The Fringe – it can be a serious issue in the summer. For as long as can be remembered, amongst Edinburgh’s working class a great mistrust is held toward tourists, especially during the August rush of the festival.
If you’ve ever navigated crowds of the drunken moneyed classes of a very early summer morning (or if you’ve ever played Bloodborne on way too much Ketamine) you’ll feel the alienation and under-the-surface terror that bleeds from every encounter with the intoxicated hordes in urban environs. ‘Other People’, the latest single from Sectioned frontman and renowned international tattoo artist Jamie Christ’s cathartic blackened drone/noise/art project Christwvrks tackles the alienation mental health issues can bring, through the lens of disgust at the temporary invasion of your home by drunken, baying tourists.
The woozy, uncomfortable layers of noise that make up ‘Other People’ are the perfect accompaniment to its video’s twisted, almost voyeuristic cinematography (co-ordinated by Rodrigo Courtney), capturing perfectly “The kind of people he [Jamie Christ] hates. Namely the drunk, swaying crowds of punters at the Edinburgh Fringe festival where the video was filmed.” ‘Other People’ is also the companion piece to ‘Terminal Uniqueness’ – a track (and video) centred entirely around the self, and loathing thereof.
Luckily for fans of cathartic, visceral art, these two tracks, and their accompanying videos, are but a glimpse into the wider multimedia project Christwvrks is poised to mould into – incorporating a book, alongside the physical release of the debut Christwvrks LP (coming soon via Astral Noize Records).
Jamie has this to say on the matter: “The suicide of my brother was the catalyst behind these creations – his death amplifying the darkness and mania that lead me to this point creatively. I force myself to create this art because this is the truest representation of myself I can give to the world. The sounds in my head become the black noise you will hear on this record, the screaming between my ears translating to the tragic beauty that is delivered through song. This is the only way I know how to turn the internal noise outwards and onto the world.”
To pre-order Christwvrks upcoming debut, head here. To catch Christwvrks debut performance, go here, and catch Christwvrks’ debut hometown performance with Opium Lord here.
Words: Richard Lowe
