MSC - ‘What You Say Of Power’
Following up on their thunderous 2020 collab release ‘I Don’t Ever Want To Be Alone’ with Rhode Island’s iconic experimental metal group The Body (of which MSC’s Zac Jones has long been a touring member), twin brothers Zac & Isaac Jones present their debut solo full length as MSC, ‘What You Say Of Power’.
Backed up by a monumental homemade soundsystem and sprung forth from a time of motorbike accidents, broken skulls & van thefts, ‘What You Say Of Power’ is dense and physical, and yet at times also beautiful and delicate.
Growing up in a home in the rural Southeast of the United States where Religious music was the standard, the brothers found their own route, regularly listening to classical music before growing into fringe mainstays in the punk and metal scenes with projects such as Braveyoung. They gradually evolved out of that scene, making their way towards the current project with the release of ‘I Close My Mind And Lock It’, two EPs released simultaneously that crystallized the musical elements and techniques loved and sought out by the brothers. 2020 saw not only the release of ‘I Don’t Ever Want To Be Alone’ but also the wonderfully glitched out, breakbeat/Jungle record ‘World Vision Perfect Harmony’ which was released on Thrill Jockey and on which Zac collaborated with Lee Buford of The Body under the moniker Manslaughter 777.
Throughout ‘What You Say Of Power’ MSC employ a keen ear for the blissful possibilities inherent in noise & junglism. The record moves exhilaratingly through frantic & peaceful moods. ’Snow’, for instance, lures the listener with violin motifs dancing amongst clouds of ambience, while the full blooded breakbeat of ‘Home to God’ interrupts this serenity like the sky tearing open in a storm. On album closer ‘Tek’ both moods are brought together in perfect harmony, combining to form a crescendo so cathartic that it makes peace with all the tension encountered earlier on the record, and sounds to our ears like being welcomed into Valhalla by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma.
The soundsystem the brothers have built plays a central part of the story of this record and MSC as a project “is an extension of our path in music together”, the brothers note. One thing that can hamper electronic acts is the lack of control over the soundsystem available at different spaces, so MSC are grappling with that problem with a solution that speaks to their hardworking characters: building their own and touring it.
Say the brothers: “Our purpose is to take control of our live sound as much as possible by utilizing a sound system that we hand built to bring the style of music that we do to a different sonic level. We try to apply all of the things that we have learned from playing music together over the past almost 20 years and incorporate it into how we write. constantly learning and trying to incorporate old habits and new ideas.”
However, it is not simply an extension to the project, as this record itself was “written on our sound system for our sound system”.. Whatever impact ‘What You Say Of Power’ has on the listener at home, it will only be enhanced when seeing the duo live.
The twins Zac & Isaac are the embodiment of hard working music freaks, coming up DIY - not as an aesthetic but as a means to an end - touring for years, learning & refining their craft on the road, consuming music and training their ears to know what works and what doesn’t. This is evidenced in the breadth & scope of ‘What You Say Of Power’, a record that can only come from a place of sincerity and a complete devotion to music that thrills and excites.