Columns Rising by Several Wives

One of the first things we learn is that we are being lied to. TV commercials deceive us. We never reach the gates of Disney’s castle. Foods marked as “heart healthy” or “nutritious” are neither. As we age, this constant bombardment with fictitious alternate realities fades into background noise, but experimental electronic artist Several Wives calls us to our senses on their new album Columns Rising. Finely dicing the runtime into tiny surreal vignettes, Several Wives immerses us into each heavily distorted, eerily distant, nostalgically liminal space before abruptly shoving us into the next, naturally increasing tension as we realize this parade of dreams shows no sign of conclusion. A vast variety of images flash before our eyes, each yellowed and torn by the same weathering forces of consciously unbelievable fantasy. Finally, we realize we’ve completely forgotten how the world could look without this obstructive haze, shuddering in silent horror as we realize the lies around us have so thoroughly infiltrated us as to leave us with no concept of a life without them.