Onna Limb and the dark twisting asymmetrical allure of "Lost in the Digital Age" (Official Video)

 

"On my way to heaven / I must’ve passed out / Did I fall apart / Am i congregated..."

I suppose that more often than not, and even though I present a lot of avant music here on American Pancake, I still present what most people would refer to as songs. "Lost in the Digital Age" by Onna Limb, the project name / moniker of 28 year old songwriter, musician, producer Jochem Knoef, is of course, by definition a song but it feels like something other than that. It feels more like a soundscape or soundtrack to a movie that I haven't yet seen. I, in fact, was going to step by this track even though the experimental things I was hearing felt intriguing. Things like the sort of beat that felt maybe more like a slam against something, the industrial slap felt dangerous, maybe even scary. Other sounds akin to flittering radio transmissions or machine rumbles, blips that changed pitch, and percussive, anxious heart beats, frenetic emotional synthesis against the organic plastecene of pretty piano keys and what feels like breaths cast dark imagery. 

The soundtrack aspect was made even more so as I was listening on a laptop casually lounging on a soft cushion chair and pivoting towards a flat screen TV that was showing a trailer of Devereux Milburn's horror movie "Honey Dew". "Lost in the Digital Age" with closed cup headphones and seeing oblique scary images made my stomach twist a bit. 

Jochem has crafted a dark soundscape apart from the aforementioned experience seeing it with some uneasy artistic scenes. I of course, have listened many times since. Very evocative to be sure and I would love to see Jochem's divergent artistry in film (and maybe it is already). 

If you like sounds that push against envelopes, if you appreciate Jonny Greenwood's masterful and different scores for the movies Bodysong (2003), There Will Be Blood (2007), Phantom Thread (2017) (and more), you might want to give Onna Limb a listen. Enjoy.

-Robb Donker Curtius

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THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:

https://onnalimb.bandcamp.com/track/sideline

https://www.facebook.com/onnalimb

http://www.onnalimb.com/


Onna Limb searches for new sounds and musical worlds in order to escape and reflect on the world of today, humans, mental illness, past and future. Swaying between sonic experimenting and a more organic, acoustic approach, the music emphasizes introspective struggles in a cinematic way. He draws inspiration from artists such as Frustrator, Apparat, Mount Kimbie, Alex G & Radiohead.

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 Onna Limb, Indie Electronic, Gothic, Dark Wave, Experimental Electronic, commissioned music, singer songwriter, musician, composer, The Netherlands, "Lost in the Digital Age", experimental,