Vancouver’s City relives mental collapse with harsh maximalism & dire hypnosis on the combative ambience of ‘Piloted’

, 16 March 2020
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City is self-releasing EP Trance Cult Metal on March 16, with preview track ‘Piloted’ premiering on AQNB today. The album is a reflection of the artist’s involvement in Tianzhuo Chen’s 2019 exhibition, TRANCE, where the confrontational trance distortions were recently staged.

This track embraces a truculent veneer. Gloomy piano melodies dissolve immediately into combative hard-synth riffs and distorted ambient soundscapes. Syncopated kick drums underscore menacing arpeggios akin to Lorenzo Senni’s 2016 song ‘Rave Voyeur’. Within the dire and hypnotic arpeggiation, City relives mental breakdown endured throughout the three consecutive 12-hour performances of TRANCE. ‘Piloted’ is not antagonistic of this experience. Its harsh maximalism simply characterizes the artist’s relief.**

City’s Trance Cult Metal is self-released on March 16, 2020.