For a while, Mexico was a barren wasteland of bands with not a single original thought on their bodies and no drive to push things forward. Thankfully, on or about 2010, the floodgates opened. Bandcamp, Soundcloud, Youtube and Reverbnation were embraced by my fellow Mexicans (not the Mexican’ts) and those who wanted to play around with the shapes of music finally had a free reign over their destiny.

Last year, at a Coordenadas event at Radio Unam, I was setting up my shitty little zine stand. The lights went out and a minimalistic drone enveloped the auditorium. It was the siren call of Camille Mandoki. Part Aarktica, part Grouper, her music was not quite ambient, very far from post-rock, and ethereal like the hazy smoke of a dozen bongs exhaling. Sounds like a winning deal.

And now, after a long wait, We used to talk for hours, is out now on Static Discos. And here we bring to you, with cupped hands, the first video of the album, ‘Fast is real’. The song emulates that weird state between alive and dead, between awake and asleep, between happiness and depression. It soothes while tearing you apart, it comforts while scaring you lifeless.

And on that final part, where the glitches destroy any sense of tranquillity, where a leviathan, hitherto unknown to us, rise from the sea, out for blood, we realise that the apocalyptic notes that Camille Mandoki was transmitting were a warning, not a lullaby. A killer ditty to sing us into the great, dark oblivion. May it last forever.

Words: Sam J. Valdés López