Category: New Music

There is an elegance of style in DefByMisadventure’s “rabbit.” The project’s preferred image is a Goya and the cosmic/existential/spiritual terror that may imply. And the image for the song itself is of the titular rabbit escaping the jaws of a greyhound by a pace. The implied tension in that creative background is perhaps reflected in how the song, though downtempo and essentially chill, brings together textural beats and organic string sounds accented by pounding bass reminiscent of an MPC. And the sonic forces are balanced, none dominating over the other, giving the song a taught yet fluid quality. The guitar/string sounds and background synth work give the mood an uplifting sonic architecture while the rest grounds it to an irresistible groove. If it has indeed been assembled by samples backed with drum machines and electronic bass, it is in the vein of DJ Shadow in that it sounds like samples recontextualized and used as a compositional element to make something fresh and original. The track implies the visual grace of movement captured in slow motion as though the image of that rabbit and the hound slowed down shows us some of the beauty of what is spurred on by the instincts of a carnivore toward its prey and how that prey’s own instincts and abilities gives it a hope of escaping death. The beauty of that interplay outside the context of having to be there is almost undeniable. A metaphor for entirely too much of life. Listen to “rabbit” on Soundcloud.