Silica Gel : May Day
LP / Digital
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Coming out of the underground DIY scene of Birmingham, Alabama,
Silica Gel's sound is a unique synthesis of early medieval music with custom electronicsand avant-folk elements. The core of their debut album adapts a series of songs from the
12th - 14th centuries, including the satirical text Roman de Fauvel, which tells the story of
a vain horse who rises to prominence in the French royal court. Silica Gel transforms this
music into a fitting political allegory for our time through distortion & repetition of language,
layering time upon itself in a conceptual historical loop. The music evokes the sound of
peasants being churned through the wheels of industry..disembodied voices return to us
from the other side of a several hundred year technological process.
This record is a caterwauling from a long-displaced subconscious - an elegant and haunting
construction that creaks with all the psychic weight we’re feeling ourselves to be bearing.
Silica Gel has offered us a medieval meal upon a greasy newspaper spoon, a pre-packaged
euphemistic eucharist for this modern festival from before the future.
-The Earth Hotel Podcast : Dec 3, 2020 episode features an interview with Silica GelTaking the record as a whole, the sounds stretching back to Early Music and into the future
of mixed electronic and acoustic music, the commentary, art, and other visuals, I couldn't
ask for a more perfect experience than Silica Gel's May Day. The most recent contemporary
record I similarly related to is Julia Holter's Aviary. When I first heard May Day, I thought
of Holter writing a folk horror score, which I hope they take as a compliment.
-Stephen McClurg, writer & musician
The source for this piece is “Kalenda Maia,” a 12th century Occitan troubadour song
by Raimbaut de Vaqueiras. "Kalenda Maia" roughly translates to "First of May" or
"May Day" in English. Silica Gel channels the full ecstasy of spring by wrangling the
song into a digital psycho crush banger with warped visuals to match in this video teaser.
by Raimbaut de Vaqueiras. "Kalenda Maia" roughly translates to "First of May" or
"May Day" in English. Silica Gel channels the full ecstasy of spring by wrangling the
song into a digital psycho crush banger with warped visuals to match in this video teaser.