Perhaps one of the most quotable hooks of 2015 comes from an unexpected source. Erica Eso, a new “globalized pop” sensation emanating from avant synthesist Weston Minissali, delivers a excitable melody in an unknown falsetto: it croons a rousing chorus for modern hearts, “One hundred years from now, me and baby are gonna leave this town.” As hopeful as the statement may be, the entire track is functioning as an empty bracket in which to fill new sentiment — mutated, morphed, damaged, and changed by the shadow of a totally unknown but not-so-distant future, to be explored in full in the project’s forthcoming album 2019.
Minissali has consistently been fascinated with intersections between high-concept and direct delivery, as explored in his projects Vavatican and Cloud Becomes Your Hand. Yet, its taken this long to reach this level of conceptual cleanliness — a tight mix, a squirmy anxiety, a microtonal oddness that seems to creep behind every accessible gesture.
As “future-minded” music slogs along with its flighty, speculative agenda, Erica Eso places it distinctly within the human heart; the track professes an optimism that drives the creative will into the “unknown-known” of human closeness, like a warm human touch radiating with robotic energy. Such hybrid sentimentality is much needed, but it comes packaged alongside potentially subversive art-tactics. Yes, the group’s optimism reaches outward, but it’s decoy-persona of accessibility gives way to guitar-squall and mystery. The track’s willful submission to a sturdy pop format is coupled with genuine peculiarity — a compassionate experimentalism anticipating dystopia, without being turned cold by it.
Keep yours eyes set on 2019, dropping October 16 on Ramp Local.
• Erica Eso: http://ericaeso.com
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