Edouard Urcadez’s solo project focuses on some heavier, noisy sounds. The second release in the cryptic weirdness of the ongoing experiment called “HolyPageRecords” it is surprisingly moving. I found it moving for the huge amount of patience Edouard employs in the pacing and sounds he uses. Usually noise artists are keener to explore pointless aggression, but his ability to infuse a kind of longing, a certain tragedy, is a nice flair.
“1995” introduces things with a rather calm approach. As an introduction, it works well, but by being the calmest track of the bunch, it doesn’t really prepare you for what’s going to come. For whatever reason, the sounds of “No Ammo” remind me of a lo-fi Salem. Maybe it’s the blurred lyrics, or the most straightforward beats you find on the album. It might also be the menacing feel of the bass as it hits, distorting things virtually beyond recognition.
Sometimes though there’s a song in an album which kind of serves as a “thesis statement” or “artist’s intent” and explains everything. For me, that song was “Body Heat”. On here, Girlhood gets into a good mixture of longing and tenderness. The song begins off quiet and slowly builds. Rather than just have it blast off into noise, he keeps its barely restrained, allowing the slight changes in rhythmic impulses do more speaking than any increase in volume could hope to achieve.
After that song, everything else on the album starts to make sense. Even the closer “Victimize” presents more tragedy than outright violence. It’s a good, noisy, but oddly endearing end to this rather bizarre EP. Get it free here.