Will Schube‘s face paint game is coming together for Halloween.
On the first track off vōx’s new EP, I Am Not A God, she spells out everything she does represent: a glaring sun, a truthseeker, a glance of light. It’s a hypnotic introduction to one of LA’s most fascinating pop artists, drowned and submerged in murky beats and thick, absorbing auto-tune. In 2017, she released I Was Born, and eventually signing to Arts & Crafts for her ew, stunning EP. It’s only five songs—none of which last longer than three minutes—but her sharp aesthetic vision gives the record a feeling of fullness.
“I’ve Never Been So Happy to Be Bleeding” sounds like Flying Lotus meets Enya, with broken vocals chopped and screwed atop pulverizing bass and synths that expand and shrink—giving the track a pulsing dynamic. Part of what makes I Am Not A God so striking is its precise vision. vōx has created a space that functions perfectly as its own entity, and each moment feeds into that vision of a subterranean pop world in which the bottom is constantly falling out, leaving room for her robotic yet beautiful vocals to float atop.
The record closes with “Life is Me,” a track in which vōx shows off her stellar vocals, free of effects. “Life in me/A time without my vices/But still holding/Life in me,” she sings, looping the phrase upon itself until meaning gives way to texture and pace. It’s more poem than lyric, using the sounds of her words to imbue the song with meaning. On I Am Not A God, vōx excels at this, namely, using every elemental piece of music to build a world entirely her own. Maybe not a God, but certainly the master of this very unique and thrilling domain.
