Picastro – “Ring Description”

A familiar name from deep into the Blogspot days of the site, Picastro has been weaving seances in drone and folk that dip the listener deep into the vortex. On her latest, vocalist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Liz Hysen combines a few of her personal rabbit holes for an EP that swirls even deeper into the dark. With a core concept around boxer Sonny Liston, his legacy, his history, and his mysterious ends, the EP pairs a rumbling ambience with the ghosts of the past. The EP also finds Hysen working further into sample-based composition, utilizing works from American composer Charles Ives as a through line. “Ring Description” brings a bit of the old and the new. Cantering with a spectral air of memory, the song hums with the heart of spectacles gone by. The vaudevillian pump of Alex Fournier’s upright bass is submerged in fuzz and froth, while the guitar and synths from Tim Condon conjure a mist that fogs the track’s every move.

Hysen gives a little insight into the song, “It would track to sort of prime-era Liston, when maybe he realized no one was going to honour him or recognize him in any meaningful way. The line about losing is based on this book I was reading about 70’s and 80’s boxers. The boxer Don Jordan said something like boxers know it doesn’t matter who wins or loses because in the end, everyone loses.” The new EP, Double On Time, is out June 12th from We Are Busy Bodies.

Support the artist. Buy it HERE.