What happens when a history of soothing surf ambience collides with agitated, fuzzy hardcore vocals? You might get the unnervingly complex middle ground of Fluoride, a new project featuring Dustin Payseur and Rene Nuñez, of Beach Fossils and Divorce Money, respectively. The duo, who just announced their debut LP, Material, out March 3 on Payseur’s label, Bayonet, just released a track, titled “Sleep”. The song is a meditation in noise, incorporating spatial sound and harsh vocal gesticulation, on top of incessant drum accents.
The track begins with strong drums, playing what sounds like it’ll be a cross between a dance pop beat and an industrial drone. Though that idea is quickly dashed by the introduction of weird (in the best way possible) aerial key-like tones and a dark bassline that echoes the rhythm, all smashed to bits when the vocals hit. A shrill, heavily effected Nuñez enters screaming to hammer home, if you didn’t already have a nervous feeling, that no, not everything is going to be alright. The ensuing two minutes are an incredible Nabokovian contrast of beautiful and hideous, creating a rather coolly uncomfortable listen.
