the moon baby and Wise Blood.
Wise Blood—the Pittsburgh musician by the given name of Chris Laufman—has been making weirdly warped sonic snapshots for the best part of six years now, with four of those being in the public domain. His output is the kind of cut and paste electronics that sound like fractured dreams or half-remembered songs, tip of the tongue, tough to place. Or in the case of the Led Zep sampling “B.I.G. E.G.O,” or “Global Menace,” with its loop of “A Lion Sleeps Tonight,” they actually contain snippets of music woven deep within you. Under his guidance genres sway into one another and dissolve. He loves Pittsburgh, he loves pop music, he loves Target.
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It’s been about a year since he released his debut album, id, but he’s returning with a collaboration with pal and local trans performer the moon baby, whose personal interests, according to Facebook, are pizza. We can get down with that. Thus far the pair have released just one tune the twisted R&B goodness if “.Bae Sick.” which the moon baby told Dazed is a “rewrite of Song of Solomon 2. I look at Song of Solomon and see what I am: transgression and sensuality rapt in a desire fortradition and acceptance. In short, this song is about weird sperm.”
But what of the rest of the EP? Opener “.Flawless (Redux)” kicks off with a soul-steeped acapella before layers of disjointed, skittering beats kick in, alongside a skipping record and a lux harp ripple. Bey never envisaged her hit torn down and made up again like this. Beats are big on this collection whether they dominate, as on “Electric Mistress,” or they create a rumpled bed over which the moon baby’s Antony Hegarty-like lilt can roll around.
The moon baby had this to say about the collaboration: “Urallpoor.us is lyrically sacred and musically profane, giving voice to my relationship with my hometown of Pittsburgh and my ever changing identity as a trans* performer and writer. Wise Blood built songs like racing engines that rise and idle the same way that I discover and create.”
A truly lovely and lyrical summation of their partnership. There’s also an upcoming 13-minute video which accompanies the entire EP. We’ll keep you posted.
