REVIEW: Kariti - Still Life

The term 'experimental' when applied to music can mean a whole host of different things, from being a little too outside of the box to fit in a more mainstream or better-known genre, or something completely nonsensical that could loosely be defined as music if you listened really hard. The newest album from KARITI sits in between those two definitions as an experimental, ambient, folksy record with some compositional choices that seem a little too out of left field to be enjoyable.

Still Life kicks off with the introduction track Spine, which is a short but sweet ambient drone track with some soft, noisy textures sprinkled throughout. You would hope it’d be an example of what to expect from the album, which, in some respects, it is, but what you might not expect is some of the interesting “noise” additions to the follow-up track, Nothing. With eerie piano comes this often off-putting sound not unlike the noise you’d hear from an instrument cable that's about to give out.

Nothing has the potential to be an incredibly dark and haunting track, immersing the listener in an atmospheric, soul-stirring bath of music, but you’re ripped almost immediately by the crunching noises sporadically thrown around during the first act of the song. It’s a shame that this acts as the first real introduction to Still Life, as it may cause many to switch off before really discovering the rest of the album.

If you’re able to move past the jarring distortion in Nothing, you’ll be treated to seven tracks of otherworldly creations of piano, droning synths, and supernatural vocals that tell a tale of 

“the aftermath of being galvanised into a disillusioned reflection on human life and the way it is lived by most of us in the world in its current state" according to EKATERINA the Russian-born composer behind KARITI.

The album is somewhat existential in its existence in that it’s both full of substance lyrically, but musically it’s fairly barebones with piano being the main focus of the record accompanied in different tracks by droning synths, crunching bass, and drums. It’s an interesting choice which allows for listeners to take a journey along side KARITI throughout the record. The album does feel like it has a slight identity crisis as it playfully dances among different genres, from ambient drone (Stems), to experimental synth (Fragile), to folk (Still Life), to sludge doom/post metal (Baptism). Still Life feels like it wants to find a place among them, but doesn’t quite find a home.

Overall, Still Life presents itself as an interesting take on the experimental ambient genre. While the album has elements that some may enjoy, there are others that fans of the genres this album tends to bridge, won’t. That’s not to say KARITI isn’t without talent; the album is dark, haunting, and spectral. It has a handful of enjoyable tracks for fans of post-metal, some may also enjoy the folksy, ambient, and noise elements, too, but looking at the album as a complete body of work, you may find there to be a handful of tracks you’d happily skip.

Score: 4/10

Still Life was released on 7th November via Lay Bare Recordings.

Words: Aaron Richardson

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