When Dimxsk passed me Cicada Shells' "Forest Noise" for my inaugural "Breaking Ground" review, he reminded me that I indeed had once told him that I had heard part of the project before and enjoyed it. Like much music I've consumed over the years, however, I had no real recollection of hearing it beyond maybe a track or two. And I suppose that when you dig a tiny hole in the ground, let it refill over the years, and then return to the spot to dig...you might as well be breaking ground for the first time. So for the first installment of "Breaking Ground" - here is Cicada Shells' "Forest Noise" from 2017!
Cicada Shells is an Indianapolis duo comprised of rapper Lorax (aka Narcoleptic Shark) and producer Defame. The duo dropped their first self titled album in 2011, I believe, via Audio Recon. "Forest Noise" is the sophomore release that was put together between 2012-2015, and then finally released in 2017 via Audio Recon/Lost Cult.
The album's rapless intro gives you a pretty good idea of what to expect for the rest of the project. Musically, we get a jittery staticky, almost (and appropriately) jungle inspired, instrumental. While Lorax doesn't yet get to spit any rhymes, we do get a Jungle Brothers vocal sample (taken from "Beyond This World") declaring, "Waitin' around for my shell to crack/After that they can't hold me back.") What then follows, in the subsequent tracks, is really a showing of Lorax shedding his shell so to speak in order to display his more vulnerable thoughts and self-portraits, all over a highly active set of Defame beats.
From a lyrical standpoint, there is an admirable strong sense of self-tension that runs through the project. Lorax seems to be constantly wrestling with how his criticisms of others and the world in general line up with his own realized shortcomings. On "Hands Stay Bloody," this comes in form of recognizing the constant horrors of the world while also becoming addicted to the news cycle ("Just another news junkie caught up in the web/Gotta get my CSPAN fix before bed...this is what I read!") On "Everything is Golden" this comes in form of desiring an idealized relationship that may be impossible due to external factors and/or Lorax himself ("If you were something real, I could hear you now/A simple gesture maybe or just an easy out.") On "Company Kept," this comes in form of being critical of certain friends while also turning the spotlight inward ("I'm only good as the company kept!")
This sense of self-tension isn't simply dished out raw. Lorax also manages to incorporate the introspection in form of some solid storytelling tracks. "Days Like This" finds Lorax enjoying the magic of a night's drive through the city and everything feeling kosher, despite the fact that nothing extraordinary beyond the night itself is taking place (and despite the fact that Lorax may not really enjoy the company he's sharing the drive with.) The project's strongest track, "Art Blanche," has Lorax creating a very modern day scene where would-be vagabonds spend their days eating ramen and dumpster diving, while also discussing leftist politics, indie film directors, and long gone graffiti zines (a portrait that really brings into question current economic and social scales.) It's when Lorax creates these vivid scenes that his themes hit hardest (also peep "Aquaphonics" where Lorax reflects on life over a metronome of falling rain - "Time is sculpted with a little help of drip drip drip.")
I personally found the heart of the album in "Monachopsis," which falls in the middle of the project's tracklist, where Lorax simply describes his general feeling out of place in the scenarios he finds himself in. This ultimately takes Lorax's honesty, regarding his confusion of self, others, and the world, to an even higher level via the admittance that he may simply be operating on a different paradigm than the people and places he currently surrounds himself with. This then perhaps relates to the albums' title - "Forest Noise." While I have no direct knowledge of the title's origins, I do wonder if the theme relates to the famous "If a tree falls in the forest..." question. Maybe Lorax is pondering whether his introspection even carries weight if there's no one to truly hear it? Yikes.
From a production standpoint, I was initially a bit worried. Heavy boom bap with industrial tinges has never been my thing, and that sound is definitely present here. There also seemed to be an old school Hip Hop feel to some of the early tracks which is also not a sound I'm super in love with. Thankfully, Defame switches things up a lot throughout the album and I found more than enough to enjoy. On "Out of Line" we get some great funk sounds. A spacey beat covering a really beautiful violin sample backs "Art Blanche." "Days Like This" gives us a moody foreboding, yet soulful, production backing. The epic closer, "All Bones Do Remain" has Defame crafting a glitchy anthemic instrumental that is one of the best soundscapes on the album. There are times on here when I feel as if the production drowns out the vocals a bit, but given the rather distressing mood of the album, it almost always works for the betterment of the track.
With all this said, the album is far from perfect. From a technical rapping standpoint, Lorax is pretty good with the short in your face rhymes. When he starts playing around with the larger syllable schemes, however, things can get a bit common (e.g. in "Company Kept" where "politics" "acknowledgements" and "accomplishments" are rhymed.) Also, when Lorax covers the hooks himself, we often get straight forward two bar or four bar chants which, in order to work, need to be super hard hitting in my opinion - and here, unfortunately, they're not (these tracks take place mostly at the front of the album.) Things are much better when either Lorax simply ends verses with a single line hitter (as in "Monachopsis") or when Defame handles the hook via a sample or instrumental section (as in "The Fixer" - a solid to the point storytelling track about trying to beat the case.) There's also a fair share of cliches content-wise on the album, such as the general life advice on "Out of Line" ("Lead by example, seek knowledge and make love/Remember where you came from, leave if it ain't much") and the Soundcloud hipstery rapper hating "So Damn Cool" ("You think you got a lot of flavor but your palate is bland/Like some raw food vegans and a biodiesel van.") Lorax also isn't very versatile delivery-wise on the project. By the time we get to ACE ONE's guest spot on the bonus cut "Chrome Fangs," ACE's otherwise pretty standard verse comes across as a much needed breath of fresh air due to ACE possessing a much more fluid flow and animate delivery.
There's also the issue of length. At 16 tracks deep, approaching the one hour mark, this is a pretty long album (the closer "All Bones Do Remain" does contain some "secret track" silence before leading into a final sample...but that almost makes things worse.) I ultimately think "Forest Noise" could have greatly benefitted from some trimming. The aforementioned "So Damn Cool" is not only a weaker track, but doesn't really fit in with the other themes of the project. The mediocre relationship-reflective "Tapestries Of You" comes immediately after "Everything Is Golden" which handles the general theme in a much superior and engaging fashion. The most interesting thing about "Unmarked Cars" is probably the shout out to Nickelodeon's "Hey Dude." Based on the fact that these songs appear to have taken about 4 years to complete, only to sit on the shelf for another year or two, I'm not quite sure if the guys simply felt like they owed it to fans and themselves to throw everything on here or what (of course, maybe this is a trimmed version and the duo had even more tracks on the slate.) Ultimately, however, I think a much better shorter project exists here.
Overall, despite its faults, I enjoyed the "Forest Noise" experience, particularly because I don't think it's something I'd necessarily sit through on my own these days. Lorax gave me some food for thought and Defame kept my head moving. I've now added Cicada Shells' debut and their 2019 "Laura Dern EP" to my endless "To Listen To" list. Shout out to Dimxsk for the rec! I got something even weirder for him to review later this month!
Peep "Forest Noise" (and buy a cassette of the project) via the Bandcamp link below!
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