WITXHES launch us into “A Part Ache” with an urgent Motorik beat and an urgent, distorted synthesizer melody. Barely discernible but clearly troubled/conflicted vocals offer snapshots of what it means to be aging, if the introduction to the unusual video is any indication. The visuals are historical pictures in the daily life of children in a town in South Dakota during the Great Depression as shot by Ivan Besse and edited for the song by Emanuel Lundgren. The latter added color anomalies and warping and visual distortion as though turning old photographs into an old VHS tape image. The song is reminiscent of the bizarre and wonderful mashup of industrial, punk and psychedelic Krautrock that was early music by Pop. 1280 circa The Grid. It has a similar appealingly scuzzy aesthetic that lends the sentiments of the song an authenticity that a more pristine soundscape couldn’t really do justice. Aging is something that happens to us all if we’re lucky and the experience of it can feel like an accelerating process that stretches out memory that can hit most people like a feedback loop if they don’t take the time to put one’s experiences into perspective, a luxury many of us aren’t regularly afforded. And in the end these experiences and memories and direct connections with others really only matters to us and the people we know. A hundred years from now most of us won’t even be part of official history. The song reflects that phenomenon and realization well in all its confusion and moments of cognitive clarity. The track comes from the Swedish post-punk band’s June 3, 2022 album Bury your Witxhes and you can watch the video on YouTube, maybe check out the rest of the record on Bandcamp and otherwise connect with WITXHES at the links below.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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