Atomic Art

After making experimental recordings for years, David A.I.U. Higgs has emerged with Atomic Yggdrasil Tarot, which may shock fans of his folk-punk band, Lungfish. Housed in an elaborate art book, Higgs’s latest album is a jarring collection of home-recorded noise tracks, composed on guitars, piano, Jew’s harp, and banjo. Due to Higgs’ frenetic playing or the fact that a tape recorder captured the resulting music, instruments are virtually unrecognisable, as tape manipulation and lo-fi sonic trickery conjure an apocalyptic soundscape. The accompanying paintings are curious because their abstract images recur throughout the book. Each facing page contains poetic acronyms (i.e. "Devils Establish Absolute Truth Here,” "Grief Obscures Delight,” etc.), which range from profound to nonsensical. Surprising and confounding, Atomic Yggdrasil Tarot is a brave artistic step for David A.I.U. Higgs.