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Zen Debris is a musical conspiracy between partners Cat Lafuente and James Cathey in the tradition of modern tribalists Dead Can Dance. The seven songs of Zen Debris's Sunstained are simultaneously warm and sensual with Cat's soulful feminine vocals, and cold and distant with the electronic debris that litters the industrial soundscape of the compositions. The music is ancient as Egyptian tombs and modern as urban graffiti.
The album opens with "Heaven's Forge", a sinister and prickly electronic track. "Hymnal" is evocative of tribal drumming, flowing water and chanting, a sinuous serpentine soundscape. "Earthen Fire" highlights Cat's vocals with a subdued, languid feel, and meditative lyrics. "Raise Your Anchor" offers a contrasting dissonant urban vibe, evoking imagery of metal forges and the city at night. The sweet, dreamy echo of "Dreams Away" is my favorite of the selection, along with the love song "Consumed By Roots" which captures the vulnerable intensity of truly knowing oneself and absorbing the essence of another. The album closes with the darkly hypnotic "Lucid", layering whispered vocals and stark drum beats.
The modern tribal sound of Zen Debris is soothing yet stimulating, spiritual and erotic. Fans of Cocteau Twins, Lycia, Coil and Massive Attack will enjoy this contribution to the genre.
-Bianca James
Suffice to say, as I'm listening to it now, scraping the shattered remains of what was once my proud, stalwart manhood off the ground - you have achieved what is inherently a piece of cinema solely without pictures (in terms of the music being a total sensory, er *meta*-experience to use a much overwrought term).
Congratulations on achieving your most fully realized, coherent and ambitious output to date!
This is my favorite new spirit.
-G.B.
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