Matthew Herbert
One Pig

THE REVIEW

Setting the life of a pig to music, up until its slaughter, and turning it into living blood on the dancefloor or at least pulsating electronic music full of a desire to live. Eros, thanatos, platonic love, life. The naive and relentless intertwining of completely different entities and priorities that become a sensitive, vital organism, hypocritical and heart-wrenching in its music for a walking corpse. Behind the console hides a genius like Herbert, massive both as a soloist and in remixing (just think of his otherworldly Bjorkian remakes) and the journey can only be interesting.

What could have been just a simple techno album or a biological-animalistic manifesto that even Moby wouldn't have done, suddenly becomes an open slaughter towards the darkest infernos. The epitome of this dark, obsessive, and telluric atmosphere is a masterpiece of not even 4 minutes like "05 December", a free-fall into the premonitory unconscious of what is about to happen, of a fate marked from the start, and of experimental techno nightmares worthy of a horror movie. Dante turning in his grave. Black rainbows. Ships devouring skies.

"One Pig" is the end of the world of Herbert, a versatile and undeniably talented musician, working on a concept that does not aim for stylistic perfection (episodes like "01 August" almost seem like fillers to let a rotting life narrative flow and fade away) but instead on the primary sensations of an acid-induced delirium, the clattering of machines (the unnerving low rumble of "07 February", sounding almost like the interior movements of a fetus in the womb of an alcoholic mother), crescendos that break off and then scream (the absurd "08 August", which suffocates a potential melodic snippet to paint monochromatic, darkly-hued pictures) and chants that open the gates of hell (the death of the pig, the protagonist of the work, which happened on "09 May 2011", which is also my birthday).

"One Pig" is a challenging album, but grasping the complete, concise, and profound meaning of this trip is the most rewarding musical experience you could encounter. And inevitably, you'll find yourself falling in love with it.