Structured around simple acoustic guitar, the slow, sad style evokes a strange paradox between presence and absence. The intimacy of the empty room. Nash’s vocals shift from steady croon to whispered hush, sometimes stretching into something pained and wounded. Because if the tense, echoing corridors of the prison sparked the inspiration, a wider tension informs the track as a whole.

“‘Peel’ is an exploration of my own struggles with anthropocentric ecocide,” explains Nash. “I didn’t want to hold back on vulnerability or my poetic voice, while also wanted to retain this sense of self-awareness.” This is achieved through both quiet and noise, the track building from mournful stillness into something more foreboding, rising to the point of unravelling before falling to near silence once more. Like a fear too large to hold for too long. A shadow on the horizon too cold and dark to bear.

Everything around you will go
Nothing like you
This will all disappear
Nothing like you though
Degradation’s gonna Peel
All our faces off the earth
And the earth is gonna wail!
Running rivers of relief

I’m not calming down about that

‘Peel’ is out now via Off Peak Records and available via the Philippe Nash Bandcamp page.

The post Philippe Nash – Peel appeared first on Various Small Flames.