Blight Witch Regalia - Cicada The Burrower (2023)

Ideated from: going through some releases from the last few weeks I’ve been spinning a lot.

Cameron Davis runs her label, Blue Bedroom, as well as recording under several handles. This truly fascinating record is a very personal journey through an experience many people would probably prefer not to call attention to.

I started hormone replacement therapy. It is such a strange and miraculous thing to endure. I watched every part of me change. Those parts of me that I thought were immutable, everything from my skin to my sexuality. It is all so unfamiliar now. I wrote “Blight Witch Regalia” to help me work through all that difference.

The end product is a wild mixture of disarmingly pleasant downtempo beats, synth-heavy melodies, and the raging crunch of black metal. It’s not just a simple A-section-B-section sort of operation, either. The two ends of the spectrum are integrated and well-balanced, and you can’t just skip tracks or fast-forward 2 minutes to just get one side or the other.

It’s a really impressive accomplishment.

Tracks I Liked

Blight witch Regalia - Starts channeling Burt Bacharach, then Moby, then Blut Aus Nord

Herald of Lions - Drum-n-bass-y grooves

Aries, You Ripped The Child Out Of Me - Goes the opposite way from a lot of songs here, starting out black and icy and resolving to the gorgeous chorus

It Was A Mistake - A serious jam