Ants Corrupt Elephant is the 2021 effort from Chinese indie rock band Backspace.
12 groovy tracks with Chinese lyrics wrapped in instrumentals that really remind me personally of the desert and hazy dreams of road trips to nowhere in particular. It keeps a consistent groove and energy throughout its 46-minute runtime and is very easy to get lost in. The fact that I can't tell you what most of the songs sounded like only adds to the appeal, personally. Usually, albums where I can't tell one track apart from the others are ones where none of the tracks stood out to me in a good way. And this is true of this album, to be sure, just in a positive way. This is an album that is best treated as a whole product.
The lyrical aspect was obviously wasted on me on account of not knowing Chinese, but I have to say, this vocalist is really good. There's a certain line in the chorus of track 7, Surveillance Is Like Centipede's Feet, the line where he says the word "sci-fi." Don't ask me to explain how this specific line of this specific song was good; this is something I cannot explain at all. I just found it really catchy. Of note as well are the wolf growls on the aptly named Wolf & Sickle and the spacey synth chords that kick off the 6-and-a-half-minute rock odyssey track Elephant Treasure. It's the little quirks on this album that make it stand out even more.
I will certainly want to return to this album in the future. I definitely want to put it on in the car at some point and just drive along to it.
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