November 18th, 2022, marks the release of the latest project from We Are Magonia. Their next foray into their particular brand of mechanized chaos takes the form of an album called Triangle Unicode.
To me, good Synthwave elicits all kinds of imagery. It conjures up visions of dark, dystopian anime cityscapes. Of denizens in sweaty basement clubs who are nonchalant about the fact that they are more machine than human. Of an immeasurable army of robots systematically wiping mankind off the face of the planet. It is the kind of music you would expect a rogue AI system to make if left to its own devices for a millennium or so.
Triangle Unicode is no different. At times, it evoked fantasies of a giant gleaming cathedral, constructed entirely of gleaming steel, certain tracks on the album as the hymns for the gathered robot parishioners, their simulated voice boxes ululating in unison the sound of dial-up internet modems. Other tracks concoct musings of a primitive but futuristic blood sport, the combat ring covered in dried blood, oil and coolant.
We Are Magonia have created another impressive melding of the organic and the artificial, the biological and the electronic. The music takes on a simulated life of its own, like a sonic Frankenstein’s monster, albeit with a lot more sure-footedness and purpose. A favourite track of mine on the album is track 6, Go To The Devil. It is digitised determination. Industrial synths and strings give way to a processed vocal before a driving beat kicks in to propel everything forward at breakneck speed, but with total control.
This album manages to be both a pleasurable experience and plutonian at the same time. It is quite a feat of engineering, and I am looking forward to both exploring their back catalogue and hearing more from them in the (hopefully) near future.
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