Washington’s Avant-Garde Post-Punk project Zabus pushes the boundaries of radical honesty, gothic soundscapes and chaotic psychedelia on new album “Automatic Writhing”, out now via Saccharine Underground. Future dystopia is largely up to us, according to the well-fleshed out themes at play here. Existential questions that few dare to consider or communicate about loom large here, a safe space to meditate on the most critical challenges facing our lives. Finding the balance between positive, negative, and undeniable reality, Zabus manage to achieve a rare and intuitive feat of facing the new with bold art as the ground crumbles beaneath,
Automatic Writhing” tackles the notion of ‘spiritual evolution’ from an unconventional angle—escapism vs introspection; what is the cost of pursuing a ‘virtual reality’ (both literally and figuratively as a disconnection of true desire and feeling, reinforced by the worst aspects of modern social media and unrealistic expectations of beauty) as an escape mechanism versus meditation, ritual, and (in unique circumstances) astral projection as a method of true introspection and self analysis? Through technological advancement at the expense of conscious enlightenment, we create our own false plane of escape, opening the door for lower vibrational entities to feed on our psychopathy and manipulate us through exploiting our vulnerabilities and weaknesses. This residue infests and chains us to our current hell—this dimension of physical earth. Simply, our conscious choices (enlightenment or devolution) can destroy or pave the path to future dystopia.
Heavy themes aside, Zabus‘s music reaches deep and is sure to connect with fans of everyone from late-era Bowie and Nine Inch Nails to Joy Division, Bauhaus, Samhain, The Cure, Killing Joke, Depeche Mode and modern artists like Xui Zui, METZ and DIIV. The mood and emotion is palpable and immediately understandable for those in the know. Here is an artist who has captured the zeitgeist the hard way; through experience.