The Compartmentalization of Decay is a title inspired by how trees deal with injury and infection by creating boundaries that resist, for example, the spread of microorganisms. This is set out in Alex L. Shigo’s Compartmentalization of Decay in Trees and Kira McSpice has drawn on this as a metaphor to process her own personal trauma as a sexual assault survivor. What she has created is a breath-taking, moving, and haunting album that floats in suspension between soporific and stimulating; similar to the way that nature can be calming at the same time it’s teeming with plant and animal activity.
McSpice says “[My assault] made a wound very deep and I decided I probably couldn’t heal from it, so I wanted to compartmentalize it. Containing it in an album was the best way to seal the hole inside of me. I created a story and characters, and I drowned the whole thing in metaphors so that I could do this work. During the writing of it I had a lot of bad dreams, and it was very hard to get through. Once I had completed the writing I felt that I was beginning to seal it off.
Recording felt very therapeutic because everything was being captured and collected and held in place. By the time I heard the master’s and heard the last song I knew I had dealt with my trauma. I know it’s still inside of me and that hurt will always be there, but it feels contained. Because of this it was very important that I made vinyl for this record. I wanted to be able to hold it in my hands, contained in rings –– what feels like a sliver of a tree –– outside of myself.”
When listened to in one sitting (I strongly recommend with headphones) The Compartmentalization of Decay envelops you and gets you to vibrate at its frequency. Musically its construction is superlative, with so much care taken in the placement of sounds. It’s an intoxicating ecosystem of low strums and hypnotic picked guitar phrases, strings that scrape and hover, looped vocals undulating in the background with occasional static crackles and bursts of distortion that disrupt and ignite in their chilling exhilarating. It’s also great to hear the plaintive side of the trombone adding emotional depth as I have always felt is doesn’t get used enough as the expressive solo instrument it can be outside the blast of a full horn section.
As exceptional as the musical arrangements it’s Kira McSpice’s voice which shines out from them like an arc light. Her preternaturally expressive voice can move from tremulous to tumultuous, often in one song, with a phenomenal range that sits like low lying mist at one end ascending to operatic heights at the other.
Minimal in its palette, maximal in its execution The Compartmentalization of Decay demonstrates how the conceptual can foster catharsis.
Kira McSpice Bandcamp | Website | Instagram | Facebook
Narration – vocals – Kira McSpice
Spile – distorted guitar – William Ponturo
Red Sky – synth – Tyler Skoglund
Fog – effected guitar – William Ponturo
Maple Tree – cello – Kira McSpice
Bucket – bucket – Tyler Skoglund
Sun – trombone – Kalun Leung
Earth – electric guitar – Kira McSpice
Water – glass harp – Kira McSpice
Wind – corrugaphone – Kira McSpice
Spirits – musical saw – Kira McSpice
Album art painted by Robyn Graygor
More information about support after sexual assault can be found on this NHS site.
Review by Paul F Cook
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