3 out of 5

Label: Skin Graft Records

Produced by: ?

The extension of Chinese Stars dance pop and Arab on Radar noisy no-wave continues with Psychic Graveyard’s second ‘not a remix’ release for Skin Graft, ‘The New World’ EP.

Leaning into the electro funk vibes encouraged by those remixes, PG pushes their droney anarchy towards a relatively “clean” and programmed sound, though leaning into the shadowy corner obsessions of singer Eric Paul – far from the paraphilias of AoR days, but poking at visuals and feelings that are of a tangentially discomfiting realm and using more of a mesmerized chanting singing voice versus his shriek of yore match. All of this is to say: Psychic Graveyard far advances the occasionally limited shimmy of Chinese Stars with a more willingly experimental vibe, employing noise for beats and open notes / sounds for chords, but it’s not more accessible as a result, wiping away the AoR / Stars grin for a grimace; maintaining a harsh edge that befits Skin Graft.

…But, those prior-band tags nonetheless remain, and this EPs pretty repetitive tunes doesn’t expand on what PG are doing enough to make a necessarily long lasting impact. Repeat listens bring out the purposeful drone-y nature of the industrial-tinged beats and one or two lines of lyrics, with slight variations revealed within the structure, but then the short song runtimes don’t embrace that enough either.

I do think this is one of the more exciting post-AoR projects for Paul, as there seems to be a clearer direction / intention with the sound. I wasn’t much a fan of the remixes, but I respect the conceptual band framework it encourages. And I do think The New World showcases movement towards that, but it’s still not fully realized by any of the tracks here.