Decommissioned Forests - Ants Part 1

Decommissioned Forests is a trio of fellows from London who create experimental electronic pieces. Homing in on post-industrial and experimental products, they started in 2017 when their debut double ‘Impermanent State’ was released. They have since been continuous in their journey, releasing another double, two EPs, and a full-length album. Their latest effort, ‘Ants Part 1’, is one of the lead singles off of their upcoming album “Industry”. This two-part song struggles to adapt a decent sound in the first part, but ends off as a psychedelic and often times jarring experimental piece. 

The first half of the song features psychedelic backing synths, however slight they are. The backing synths feel like a dystopian hymn meant to hypnotize and brainwash the listener. However, soon enough a horn instrument plays over this gentle rhythm. It sounds completely out of place and doesn’t really fit the mood or theme of the song. What’s added into the mix is spoken word vocals. They are very well spoken and heard, but they kind of dominate the mix. Again, they don’t really go with the other two focuses – the synths and the horn – in the song. It’s like these three pieces are all meant for different songs but are unharmoniously crashing. The second half of the song begins with repetitive, electronic-piano rhythm and whirring electronics. The track becomes more trippy as slight static and brighter notes come out to play a la ambient music. It’s interrupted by harsher synths and the horn instrument changes pace to shorter notes. It actually matches what’s going on here. So, yes, I do appreciate this second half more than the first. 

 Though I’m able to appreciate the second half a lot more than the first, it cannot save the whole song. After giving this a few spins, I began to leap over the first half just to land around the four-and-a-half minute mark to finish out the rest of the song. While the second half is not flawless, it certainly is more entertaining and sounds cohesive. If Decommissioned Forests is able to find a way to make their voice, live instruments, and synths work together in a cohesive mix, then they’ve got gold. As of right now, however, things are a little rough. Five-and-a-half out of ten.