CIX’s reapplication of beats and textures forms a new mythology of sound.
Words by Hannah Hayden
Following the success of her first single of 2021, Denature Me, CIX has just returned with a new track, The Spell is Broken. The track arrives with the announcement of her sophomore EP, Waif, which is set to be released on July 14th, 2021.
Naming a track The Spell is Broken seems somewhat conclusive, pointing to an ending, perhaps one prompted by disillusionment. However, this short and wildly variant track is actually the first of the EP. Therefore, what we can expect of this new body of work is a sound which is informed by a marked shift in understanding. The single, as well as the rest of the EP, was written in the otherworldly time of the 2020 pandemic. As jarring as it was to live through due to grating external factors such as lack of social engagement and being stuck inside the unchanging landscape of one’s own house, CIX explores the interiority of this stillness and bravely faces certain dualities that would be more easily ignored. On Waif, CIX comments that, “[the EP] deals with the metaphysical relation between self and other, between masculinity and femininity, between sexuality and violence, between history and mythology, between technology and nature, between crisis and renewal”.
With production hearkening to experimental pioneers such as Arca, SOPHIE, and Gazelle Twin, The Spell is Broken includes vocals reminiscent of Björk that sing of new mythologies. The track flits from ominous, folkloric synthesisers and organs and culminates in a trap-infused beat. However disparate these sounds may seem, the shift feels completely natural. CIX’s reapplication of beats and textures forms a new mythology of sound which is both completely original and natural.
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