Dis Fig - What To Make Of These Mortal Hands
Turn the volume up loud. Dis Fig works with distortion and deep, probing bass structures that demand to be felt. She taps into the low frequencies that, like the languid drones of The Body or Big|Brave, set your body vibrating. These are sounds she already commanded, but has presumably honed further through collaborations with artists such as The Bug. This intense sound—the collision of industrial textures, immense bass and emotionally commanding vocal lines—pushes Dis Fig to the height of her powers. ‘What To Make of These Mortal Hand’s is impressive, powerful and monumental.
The story concealed within her music is the weight of human existence: sacrifice, exhaustion, resistance, grief and hope. All of it is compressed into a formidable sixty minutes in which subtlety is pulverised, sounds erupt and buckle, and emotions are torn apart and spat out. Where scratches become sound. Where vulnerability is laid bare. Just listen to the emotional outburst of the single “The Account,” featuring guest vocalist the wind between. Or the chaos that overtakes the whispers in “Vorago.” Even the pastoral “Ginko’s Way” feels entirely at home in this sonic clash between destruction and beauty. “I’ll See You In The Burning Sun” gives you goosebumps. The intensity built up on “The Snake You Built” reaches its absolute catharsis here. There is no turning back: Dis Fig has you by the throat.
And then there is still that other towering track to come: “The Stone Awakens feat. LUηG.” This is life: lived, endured and survived. Dis Fig delivers, just as you expected—only it’s even more impressive. Bet you’ll shed a tear as “A Hundred Hands” draws the album to a close.