Morgan Y. Evans: This is the best thing I have seen in awhile, both seductive and a little frightening like any leap of faith. It is both a compelling celebration of the human form, identity and desire and the intensity of nature’s uncaring demand for survival. The music also reflects an impact between the soulful and gentle sacred spaces of the heart with the jarring industrial world. The sensual, dramatic visuals of the clip pull you in to the degree that it becomes hard to separate the music and video as two distinct entities, something that doesn’t often happen anymore. This is the first time in awhile where a video felt more like a triumphant unforced short art film to me than a pairing of music, skits and random visuals. Look forward to checking out this artist more for sure. [9/10]
Adriane Pontecorvo: Chrome-plated static underlies the cacophony of VISIONIST’s “No Idols”. It’s a palatable kind of noise, one that still has threads of quick, rising-and-falling melody. The song itself is a miniature suite of short, varying movements that swing between tempos, rhythms, and moods, and within those movements is plenty of scope for imagination. VISIONIST never coasts on this new single, and whether or not you have an affinity for experimental electronics, it never gets boring. [7/10]
Tristan Kneschke: Skittering, glass-shatter drums and a lumbering, morose piano line clash in Visionist’s latest. It’s very much in line with the stuff that Oneohtrix, Chino Amobi, and Arca are putting together, an assertion of uncompromising electronic music that deviates from metronymic strictures. While I appreciate the aggression, the parts in “No Idols” seem like they were written independently and then multitracked after the fact. There’s a sense of disconnect that doesn’t seem to cohere by the song’s end, only heightened by the long solo piano part in the middle. [5/10]
Ian Rushbury: In one room of the house, someone plays piano with one finger. In another, someone attempts to dig up a concrete floor with a jackhammer. Halfway through, the pianist gets busy on a synth. Someone records the resulting melange and voila! If there is a melody anywhere in here, my torch isn’t powerful enough for me to make it out. The video will induce epilepsy and will put you off pomegranates for life. Approach with caution. [4/10]
William Nesbitt: I don’t know what forest the video takes place in with its dead, mangled trees, but it’s a spooky one. The staccato bursts of industrial noise sound like semi-automatic machine gun fire. Just as we start to adjust, some eerie piano takes over. This is stark music, the kind that plays when someone either realizes their life is over or right before they take someone else’s. Do not play on a first date if you are hoping for a second (but if you do and he or she likes it, that person may be The One). The bursts of noise return augmented with jerky synths as some strange figures appear looking like something out of one of the better American Horror Story seasons. From here things get even weirder. It’s like a short arthouse horror film with accompanying soundtrack. It’s good, but how often can you listen to it, with whom, and under what circumstances? [7/10]
SCORE: 6.40