Edifice by December Magic

Like a fever dream somewhere between a late night true crime documentary and a televangelist sermon, the record Edifice by December Magic presents a mythologized version of the murder of JonBenét Ramsay. On this album, JonBenét is no longer just America’s sweetheart; she is the Biblical lamb representing all goodness and beauty in the world, and what happened in her family’s basement was an act of desecration the weight of which cannot be channeled into words, only noise and feedback and static. Synthetic fuzz oscillates behind 90s radio broadcasts, reporters speaking in detached monotones in contrast to the emotional statements of shell-shocked community members. These overlapping samples are confusing and disorienting, capturing a phenomenon that occurs after any tragedy as a deluge of unreliable witness accounts and conflicting reports flood the 24 hour news cycle. Speaking over low ominous droning, a Boulder County police officer makes a statement: ”Crime solving requires vigilant and careful police work.” In the context of this event, his words are an indictment of the investigators’ own failures. Justice aborted by carelessness. By the end of this short album, the listener is left empty-handed with no real closure. The final track slowly fades out, industrial electronic pulses fluttering like a heart murmur leading to a fatal demise.