Is Doomed

Vinyl LP pressing. 2015 release by this solo project from Dan Barrett, the man behind Connecticut-based Have a Nice Life, Giles Corey, Enemies List and countless other endeavors. Titled Is Doomed, this seven-song album is available courtesy of The Flenser label. The majority of the tracks on Is Doomed are brand new, although the release boasts a mastered version of the widely circulated song "My Body Betrayed Me," which has been available on Bandcamp and made waves immediately upon upload. Like all of Barrett's projects, Black Wing was self-recorded at home, but this process was a bit different for him. At the time, Barrett was having some health problems-the first serious health issues he'd ever had-and was "surrounded by all sorts of machines, lots of beeps and boops and what have you. I had a heart monitor strapped to my chest for a month. I was dripping a lot of blood all over the place. It was all very undramatic and fleshly and strange. I didn't know what to make of any of it. Meanwhile, it was a beautiful, hot summer, sun everywhere. So I decided to just go ahead and make a depressive chill wave record-basically, music to listen to in the car with the windows down while feeling slightly melancholy and distracted." The resulting seven tracks are gloomy yet uplifting, heavy while ambient, overwhelming yet alluring, resulting in one of the most remarkable electronic releases of the year.