Spotkanie by Aśwattha

We as a species owe an apology to snakes after millennia of subjecting these weird little dinosaurs to associations with evil, treating them as an inconvenience at best and a moral failing at worst. An experimental electronic artist from Poland named Aśwattha sets out to bridge this empathetic gap on Spotkanie, letting us experience the serene and tragic life of the snake from the comfort of our headphones. This album’s dungeon synth aesthetics send us on a retro electronica adventure, characterizing the snake’s movements as gradual, methodical, and graceful. However, these silky smooth synths also betray a coldness of the snake’s essence, always desperately searching for warmth to sustain its chilly, fragile heart. Even on the warmest and easiest of days, the snake’s environment radiates back this essential coldness, eight billion pairs of boots stepping precariously overhead without a care in the world for the life beneath. With just a bit of empathy, we can reverse course in our needless inter-species conflict, healing one of humanity’s earliest betrayals of our environment in the process.