Review:
“It Is Finished When It’s Destroyed” by The Academy of Sun
Unlike whatever drivel the Pope or his servants are peddling, Nick Hudson’s project The Academy of Sun has always sounded divinely inspired. But by which gods? Who knows? Hudson may as well be divinely inspiring (a word I use here in both its adjectival and verbal forms) himself; his latest single with The Academy of Sun, “It Is Finished When It’s Destroyed,” is no exception to their catalogue of enlightened avant-garde post-everything rock music.
From the first note of the song come sustained vibrations from a positively spectral guitar that only goes from tenuous to tenacious–an ingenious trick. Entering the song proper, a good taste of chorus-y bass complements the spidery rhythm guitar (that other one is still going, by the way). But the haunting isn’t finished; a cold, misty synth materializes to reinforce the otherworldly work of the sinewy guitar that won’t cross over. Being a pretentious trad goth myself, I will definitely never consume enough of this sound, and the first section of “It Is Finished” forces me to come back for several more servings.
It’s an artistically restrained interpretation of early 80s UK post-punk/goth, but The Academy of Sun is leagues above the “UK 80s-influenced dark post-punk (but we’ll never use the word ‘goth’)” abundance of clone bands in the milieu these past decades. Certainly, The Academy has their more popular comparisons (which others have identified previously and so I will not), but they never end up pigeonholing themselves or painting themselves into a corner. (What’s the musical expression for this anyway? Releasing an album of I–V–vi–IVs? Mindless repetition without meaning? Writing a butt rock album?)
The Academy of Sun reaches further than post-punk and even rock music into something more refined, esoteric, spiritual (“gnostic,” Hudson calls it), and erudite. To call it abstract would be an understatement. “It Is Finished When It’s Destroyed” continues The Academy of Sun‘s trend of paradoxical genius in making a quasi-natural, largely acoustic (i.e. not overtly electronic) iteration of industrial music–industrial initiates will recall that the genre indeed began with spiritually esoteric, if heretical, occult, iconoclastic, and downright blasphemous roots–ending up at the fully human and fully divine. You know, like Jesus. Except imagine instead of Jesus saying that he (and yes, my soulless heathen hand will render this mortal prophet’s pronouns with exclusively lowercase letters) was the messiah, he pulled an Oprah-style “everyone look under your seats!” gimmick and after a bout of contemplation of the self they all turned out to be literally Jesus.
In other words, listening to The Academy of Sun is like ascending to Heaven, reaching nirvana, and achieving moksha. “It Is Finished When It’s Destroyed” in particular is the difficult but necessary lesson we need in catharsis and the anxieties about letting go in order to be released from carnal desire. The Academy‘s approach makes perfect sense.
The B-side “Ghost Foxes” serves as a great counterpoint to the ethereal vastness of the single’s A-side. Opening with rapid fire vocals (which sucks for me since I totally forgot to ask for the lyrics sheet on this one and then I slacked on it forever, and I always try to review those) and a start-stop riff over a driving snare-led rhythm, we follow to a just short of fast swinging chorus where the ride (cymbal) sways us in 6/8 time. At least I think it’s 6/8 time. Maybe it’s not. It sounds cool. Does that count for something? Because it should. (Correct my bad music theory at duskarts@protonmail.com.)
Anyway, The Academy layers us in electric organ, multiple vocal parts, tremolo-effected guitar, and a nice, big, round, hollow bass not unlike the aforementioned (a favorite sound of mine–you’ll agree when you hear it) that envelops the listener; we’re immersed.
For some, a mind can only be cleared through silencing. For others, a chosen white noise is required to replace the cacophony of the mundane, corporeal world. Considering both sides of “It Is Finished When It’s Destroyed,” The Academy of Sun sagely prove that they understand both methods. Perhaps through their instruction, if the rest of the world were so open and wise, something (my goodness, anything at this point) might improve about our kind and our place on this Earth. Here’s hoping The Academy get the attention they deserve.