20th century technological advances led us to believe that by now we would be healthier, happier, and more relaxed. We imagined that our biggest concern would be how to spend our newfound leisure time. And yet, while time-saving devices may have worked in some arenas, they have backfired in others. Our attention spans have dramatically decreased. We have grown more electronically connected while becoming less emotionally and spiritually connected. We have lost touch with the rhythms of nature. For the first time in years, our projected lifespans have decreased, a direct result of our love affair with junk food.
J.G. Ballard envisioned a similar dystopian future in High Rise. The high-rise apartment featured in the novel represented the height of human achievement, but isolated its inhabitants from each other and the outside world. While Ballard might not have foreseen all of the specific vicissitudes of the 21st century, he was spot-on in his observations of human nature. The themes of his novel form the backdrop of The Vertical City.
The Vertical City is simultaneously sleek and cold. Rejections’ modern music is made possible only through the contributions of computers. The EP is filled with resonant drones, static charges, harsh echoes and distorted, bullhorned speech. Although it is a cassette, the EP reflects recent advances in technology. But it fails to engage the emotions. Loud yet stoic, abrasive yet restrained, the album is a perfect aural reflection of Ballard’s themes. The rigid percussion and frigid tones are intriguing, yet alienating; one listens to these sounds in the impersonal fashion of a scientist studying a slide. Even the children and birds that inhabit the opening track seem strangely removed; even the pulses, which one might normally associate with dancing, sound more like a factory in mid-afternoon. Ironically, by embracing the sounds of isolation, the artist provides a rejection of the same. We may live in a state of coldness, but it has never been what we wanted. (Richard Allen)
a closer listen 