- From noise to techno to 195 BPM breakcore, this LP thrives in dramatic extremes.
- My World My Way, the second LP from E-Saggila, builds on the Toronto artist's background in noise and live improvisation in the deeply personal way she'd established on her first album, Dedicated To Sublimity. It opens with an unintelligible vocal behind a wall of distortion and static. The track clicks in and out like a radio transmission with what could be a missile or plane falling, then crashing, in the distance. More voices clamber over each other. Soon, gabber blasts out above the din. Once the skippy hi-hat pattern appears, you might imagine the doors opening to a warehouse with a thousand sweaty ravers pogoing in unison.
My World My Way often invites you to picture a world on the brink of collapse. Take the synth that sounds like an alarm on a military base on "Crimson Liquescence," or the industrial factory sounds of "Pattern Obligation." These tracks are impressive and evocative, often folding glitched snippets of vocals into brutal yet often incredibly funky techno tracks. Even in its quietest moments, the record is dramatic. "Stars Dying in Succession" feels like it could be on the OST to a futuristic Spaghetti Western. While the move from noise to club music is not unusual, few artists from that background manage to make it with this much groove.
The title track could be compared to a rebuilding of the world that's just been broken down. "My World My Way" is dancehall-indebted breakcore, and would be one of the more club-friendly tracks here if it wasn't 195 BPM, fast enough to scare off most DJs. The percussion still sounds like hundreds of machines at work, but the melody is bright and simple, a brief moment of positivity before the apocalyptic monologue on the closing track, "One Last Midnight." It's barely audible, but sounds like a supervillain's last words.
When the world around us feels like it's going to shit, music can help us in two ways. Some people will reach for something that alleviates their fears. Others will lean towards the negative emotions overrunning their psyche, embracing the horrors keeping them up at night. On My World My Way, E-Saggila opts for the second approach, and she does so brilliantly. In the LP's last seconds, a number is dialled before an old mobile rings, setting the stage for whatever's coming next.
Tracklist01. Aziza
02. Crimson Liquescence
03. Stars Dying In Succession
04. Alia feat. Thoom
05. Pattern Obligation
06. My World My Way
07. One Last Midnight feat. Oil Thief