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Some advice for a nicer life: Review of Have A Nice Life’s ‘Deathconsciousness’

Benjamin St. Pierre
Connector Staff

We all experience moments of pure bliss upon finally finding the thing we didn’t even know was missing. Like a sickness that has finally been remedied by a medicine you didn’t even know existed. Like a feeling that, although there may be numerous incomplete structures within your being, you’ve at least found partial betterment through a material with which you can build. Something like this occurred to me the other day.

Music is an integral part of human identity; what you listen to can shape or effect your view on the world, your view on people and even how you view yourself. And music, being an art form, is constantly experimenting with new sounds and ideas, as the artists try to convey emotions, thoughts and their own existence through words and sound. They convey the abstract through the concrete. It’s great.

While taking a lazy day a few weeks ago to do nothing else but discover new music, I stumbled upon a band whose sound I’ve never quite heard before. It filled a void in me. Have A Nice Life, out of Middletown, Conn., incorporates electronic, droning melodies with reverbed vocals, both acoustic and electric guitar and an overall gloomy and enshrouding atmosphere that completely immerses the listener in the world each song creates. The band’s debut album, “Deathconsciousness,” actually first released in 2008, but it was re-released this past Tuesday on iTunes (which caught my eye). It may have been a good amount of time since its release, but it is no less amazing, and an iTunes release broadens the potential audience.

The album, in short, is riveting. It’s like electric folk music with a hint of metal and hard rock influence strewn meticulously about. It’s all about experimentation and creating music that combines instruments you’ve never heard pieced together before. My imagination is at work while I listen to it. Songs like “Bloodhail,” “I Don’t Love,” “Holy F*cking Shit: 40,000” and “Earthmover” bring to mind the scene of a gala in which the guests are robots and the only sustenance being served is motor oil; or outside, where faceless workers are changing trees to fit a new world through a process of turning bark to computer chips. You’re immersed in a world in which the “sights” and sounds become infinitely more relevant than what is being said, as the reverbed vocals become almost hard to hear, and interpret, when the instruments stand out so much, and deservedly so.

I believe Have A Nice Life to be a band that deserves recognition for not only being somewhat enigmatic and weird, but also for doing weird well. To be successful, you need something about you that sets you apart from the rest of the pack. Have A Nice Life succeeds at being different and weird enough to succeed by having its distinct sound remain a mystery. What are they, exactly? I don’t know. Their music is addictive; I suggest you try it for yourself, as it’s something you’ve most likely never heard before.

Overall, “Deathconsciousness” is a more exciting yet uneasy work of art. It’s fine, experimental art, and deserves to be recognized as such. Have A Nice Life has certainly made my life better.

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