Cruel Optimism

by Lawrence English

Cruel Optimism cover art
  • Type: Album
  • Released: 17 February 2017
  • Label: Room40
  • Country: Australia
  • Length: 38:54
  • Community rating: 3.33/5 from 5 ratings

Album Notes & Community Reviews

Inspired directly by Lauren Berlant's sociological text regarding the false promises of modern capitalism, the Australian ambient composer crafts a suffocating, tectonic album. The record utilizes overwhelmingly thick waves of distorted synthesizer drone and processed vocal choirs to simulate an atmosphere of crushing political dread and systemic anxiety. It is a masterful, deeply pessimistic exercise in extreme sonic pressure.

Genres

Descriptors: instrumental, ambient, droning, electronic, political

Tracklist

  1. Hard Rain (5:29)
  2. The Quietest Shore (2:40)
  3. Hammering a Screw (1:35)
  4. Crow (3:14)
  5. Requiem for a Reaper / Pillar of Cloud (3:19)
  6. Exquisite Human Microphone (3:10)
  7. Object of Projection (4:44)
  8. Negative Drone (4:17)
  9. Somnambulist (5:58)
  10. Moribund Territories (4:22)

Credits

More from Lawrence English: full discography