Nghtcrwlr is Kris Esfandiari's dark electronic and digital hardcore project. While it is inspired by Yves Tumor's live sets and her love of '90s electronica, it is far from an homage. Her debut with the project HiSeq_Let The Children Scream demonstrates how the 808 infused id of subterranean dance music can serve a therapeutic and personal end when properly directed- in this case, helping her to continue to process the way certain religious ideals were disseminated to her as a child.
The Children of the title then are those who were subjected to particular interpretations of scripture through religiously instructional media- some clips of which are inserted throughout the album, namely highlight from the manic musical antics of Psalty the Singing Song Book (oh yes, it's weirder than it sounds- think PeeWee's Playhouse mixed with Jesus Camp). Further radicated the eerieness of these kinds of indoctrinating projects as they are aimed at children, Kris has also included excerpts of Charismatic Christians speaking in glossolalia- a far more disturbing and alarming experience than one might expect.
Beyond the glaring cultish, Christian reference points, the Let The Children Scream's meaning and goals are left largely to the interpretation of the listener- allowing you to process various sense absorbing and twisted impressions of emotion and sound textures along with Kris, but permitting you the space to draw your own conclusions. The tracks adhere just enough to the conceits of song structure to permit a stable foothold in what is otherwise a tempest of sound, disintegrating the clay husk of a long-dead super-ego in an expressionistic purge.
We all have things in our past that we've tried to bury- to shove down and forget about. But hiding them doesn't make them go away. If you truly want to have control over the skeletons in your closet, sometimes you have to let them out and give them a good rinse of sunshine. Once they've been cleaned and examined, you may find them to be obedient as well. I think that's the hope expressed on HiSeq_Let The Children Scream at least- that letting something free will cause it to relinquish the control that it has over you.
