spiritcake’s visceral "Dieback" explores the bond between environmental and artistic struggles

The metaphor Phillipe Nash explores forms a web: it is woven by gossamer threads of melodic keys and disruptive, jarring synth. Parallels can be drawn between the sound, mental wellness and the earth: the trinity which comes together to form the concept "Dieback". Harmony, on every level, can be disrupted. “I am consciously choosing sounds and recording techniques that lead down the path of closeness,” spiritcake explains, “to swim down into depths of emotion, dreams, and unconscious imagery.”

"Dieback" is occupied with tapping into the human relationship with the wild, and reconciling himself with living on, and being partly responsible for, a dying planet. The enveloping, ethereal nature of the track can be traced back to the influence of Radiohead, with subtle shades of Björk. Discussing his own dieback, the songwriter said the track is a “homage to moments of salve that hinted at the voice beneath the bark willing the will to live.”

What begins as a simple arrangement grows to be a highly textured composition, which increases in its intensity until it reaches a breaking point, unwinding into cacophony. The result is a breath of “vibrant life in this song of woven layers, determined not to give up.”