Human is the first single taken from ‘Mesonoxian’, the debut album from London-based artist Anil Sebastian, who is also founder and leader of the London Contemporary Voices Choir. Well versed in creating soundscapes, both vocal and otherwise, ‘Mesonoxian’ (which means “pertaining to the hour of midnight”) was produced Produced by Anil, his brother Ingmar and Jon Hopkins collaborator Cherif Hashizume, and features Sebastian creating a juxtaposition between intimacy and expanse, all based around his effortless and ethereal falsetto vocal.
Talking about the track, Anil says “Human life is a perplexing clusterfuck. I remember watching the stars from my window when I was 8 or so wanting to Jack-and-the-beanstalk myself off the planet, to begin again. If we could leave and start again, would we fail in the same ways again? Hiraeth is a welsh word that describes the feeling I had – a homesick grief for something that no longer exists (or in this case probably never did). We are tiny in the universe but look to space, the cold desolate void that surrounds us, as an expanse of hope and the future. Human is about all of these things.”
There’s some of that desolation and hope within the track, layers of vocal rippling away on a carpet of synth noise, as Sebastians vocal sweeps over the top of everything. Eventually the backing is replaced by a deep bass throb and tumbling percussion, but the human element is soon there with these aching string lines that permeate everything. It’s heart-stoppingly beautiful.
Check out the Casual Psychotic directed animated video, it itself both beautiful and intriguing, here
‘Mesonoxian’ is due for release on Relative State Records this September 2016.
