There are two Brixtons. One is home to the everyday hustle and bustle of London, where flat dwellers commute to work and brag about their favorite corner bars. The other is a far darker world, one that exists on the edge of sanity. There, gang violence and drug use are very real. It’s where good people are sucked in and driven to the brink. This is the Brixton that Darren Cunningham came from and the Brixton he—through his techno-minimalist character Actress—wanted to capture on his latest LP, Ghettoville.
He wasn’t unsuccessful, at least in some cases. There’s a biting isolation to the clangs and drones of “Forgiven.” Shattered hip-hop beats in “Corner” crackle their way through a faded representation of the urban culture, a theme continued on the far more fleshed out “Rap” and “Rule” later on. The perpetual call of police sirens can be heard with the effects thrown into “Rims.” In these songs, one can hear a dark, foreboding Brixton underground, a demoralizing inner city.
Even more upbeat songs like “Gaze” and “Birdcage” help paint Actress’ picture of his Brixton life. They sound like songs from a DJ’s soundboard, but heard by someone whose mind is far from listening. Cunningham had said in interviews he wanted to show the world according to someone driven mad by life inside “ghettoville.” These songs present that; they’re popular club songs distorted by one’s own mind.
As a whole, Ghettoville feels too long. Techno at its most stripped down, there’s not a whole lot of excitement to grip the listener for its hour-long runtime. Breaks from the drone with “Birdcage” are welcome, but not enough to really feel as engaging as Ghettoville could. Several songs—like “Time” and “Skyline”—repetitively plod their way through six minutes of drones that feel even longer than that. Even the shortest track on Ghettoville, the echoing “Don’t,” is a drag.
Hinted as Actress’ last album under that pseudonym, Ghettoville goes a long way in giving us a glimpse into what the tormented minds of the Brixton ghetto see as they stumble through its dark realities. Between the isolation and haunting distortion of Ghettoville are Brixton’s lost souls. Yet, the album as a whole is a painfully long endeavor, an album that’s difficult for anyone but the most serious of listeners.
C+
