ALBUM REVIEW: LA MVERTE “Alchemy Calls”
Revolving around three stages in the pathway of philosopher’s stone in alchemy, a mystical object that could turn base metals into gold or silver and achieve immortality, which symbolizes enlightenment and perfection, La Mverte’s Alchemy Call illustrate and further interpret the stages with three tracks: “Nigredo,” “Albedo,” and “Rubedo,” which represents blackness (death/decomposition), whiteness (purification), and redness (reborn) respectively. The EP also includes two remixes of “Nigredo.”
La Mverte’s method of sonic symbolism in Alchemy Call is quite fascinating, where themes and variations spread out throughout the record with different underlying meanings, adding a poetic touch to its gesture. Observing the sonic development between death, spiritualism, and sacredness contrasting with the reinforcement of dissonance and theme while beats behave distinctly in different stages.
“Nigredo Ft. JC From Vox Low” spirals down a dark, eerie theme tackling elusive dark visions with a heavy, punchy beat that intensifies the decomposition. It reminds you of the constant industrial compression that beats an object to its very core, where Jean-Christophe Courderc’s vocal connects the idea with a confrontation with one’s own demon. In the brutal, repetitive self-interrogation, the idea of self is breaking down to what it’s truly made off.
Stepping into the second stage, “Albedo” begins with a constant ring carried throughout the track as purification gradually takes its shape. The same spoken line distorts according to the stretch of space in a penetrating beat, stripping down all judgments. “Rubedo” rises above the sky with a choir, organ-like brightness where the regroup of elements takes shape into the becoming of something new yet familiar, filled with limitless possibilities.
Written by Katrina Yang
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