Music is just one of the many forms of cathartic expression Golden Champagne Flavored Sweatshirt produces as a multi-disciplinary artist, but for her unique strain of sounds the Californian creator “has completely changed the way I approach other types of artistry; as well as shaping my relationship to self.”
Set for release this Friday, 20th November, Golden Champagne Flavoured Sweatshirt’s debut full-length Expectant is a hypnotic and highly engrossing collection of afrofuturist compositions centered around cathartic expression of anxiety, confusion and depression – something we can all empathise with in 2020.
It’s obvious just from listening that blood, sweat and tears have been poured into this album’s production. Each of the tracks function both on their own and as a whole. The record veers between sublime washes of downtempo techno beats over hypnotic, buzzsaw waves on tracks like ‘Sea Creatures’, whilst tracks like ‘Horsemouth’ jar the listener’s brain with snarling, crunchy waves of synth and skittering beats, though never suffer from this juxtaposition. Each track flows neatly into the next, perhaps because of the keen line of thinking behind Expectant’s hyperactive catharsis. Golden Champagne Flavoured Sweatshirt explains that “the personal and political nature of creating art under capitalism has been an intense journey of self actualisation. This is to remember these feelings, this time, this part of my story.”
Whilst it is entirely unique audibly, the release calls to mind Lil Ugly Mane’s weirdest shit turned up to eleven, and is a highly cohesive experience throughout. Whatever mood its relentless atmospherics and beats throw at the listener, it feels like every track is part of a whole, whilst any one track could be performed just as easily in a weird sweaty techno basement as it could a sweaty weird noise basement.
Expectant is out 20th November on Ratskin Records. Order here.
Words: Richard Lowe
