- Deconstructed grime that splutters and spurts.
- Raime once told Mark Fisher that they found relief in dystopian music. "Fatalism can be seen as a negative attitude," they said. "By actively experiencing fatalistic atmospheres perhaps you fear the reality of it a little less." The surprising lightness of their last EP, Am I Using Content Or Is Content Using Me?, suggested their worldview had shifted. We Can't Be That Far From The Beginning summons an emotionally distant mood in which they try to make sense of, among other things, "our bombardment-based online culture."
The three pieces here are often punctuated by seemingly random bits of YouTube dialogue. Those on "In Medias Res"—"I'm very tired," "She doesn't fight it," "What happened!?"—suggest a familiar, timeline-borne apathy. The string plucks are unsteady and erratic, and the cellos slide grimly alongside them. Sometimes a rhythm takes hold, but the beat often stumbles or drops out. A few sound effects aside, such as the surprised yelp that stands in for broken glass on "Do I Stutter," this is more or less how the other tracks proceed, too.
The music's sense of progress is constantly stalled, either by yawning gaps of silence or phrases that sound as baffled as the listener might be. "What is that?" asks someone with a thick Scottish accent on "See Through Me, I Dare You," either in confusion or disgust. The cruelty of Raime's music once lay in visceral, angsty soundscapes sculpted from familiar psychic terrain. Now, it's in a foggy reality too few saw coming.
TracklistA1 In Medias Res
A2 Do I Stutter?
B1 See Through Me, I Dare You