Paula Temple – Deathvox EP (2014)

If I had to sum up the track ‘Deathvox’ in two words, I could describe it as Neolithic meets Industrial. 5:24 minutes of frenzied screeching synths, Temples own distorted voice terrifying throughout, and a tribal beat that might be more at home in the middle of the woods at a Bacchanal. Vines crawling up trees at superspeed while thick wine trickles out of greedy mouths.

The images my mind conjures up upon hearing this are completely in contrast with each other. I could be clad in bloodied animal skins dancing under the stars, as I could be sweating and moving through smoke in the bunker at Tresor. This is Techno across the eras, combined into one screeching, pulsating, and primitive track.

Any fan of Paula Temple knows of her imagination and uniqueness. Aside from producing dark, banging tunes there is something hugely different about her style. This is showcased here with Deathvox. I have heard nothing like it, nor will I ever again. Deathvox is nearly a religious experience. Lights off and sound up, it will bring you back to nature or into the future.

The track opens with a 13 second build-up of a high-pitched screech, then suddenly stops. A rich all-enveloping jungle beat then takes over with blasts of distorted shrill sounds at intervals reminding you to be wary. The jungle beat continues.

Overlapping the fast death march, Paula Temples own hugely distorted voice is broadcast over the track like a dark omen. Similar to the rich vibrating sound of the didgeridoo, while also sounding like the warning call of the Tripods in Spielberg’s vision of ‘War of the Worlds’.

At three minutes in the sound of her dark breath is repeated solo, among what sounds like a rattlesnake biting dust, bringing you back to a primitive earth from the abandoned nuclear powerplant you were just dancing in.

Deathvox is unrelenting, not of the present, and a tribute to chaos.

by Claire Fagan