Backxwash - Only Dust Remains
“Do not fear the void. It is not your enemy, Neither is it your friend”
About a year ago, Montreal rapper-producer, Backxwash, dropped one of her grandest statements with the release of the seven-minute single, “Wake Up.” For only dropping her debut album in 2019, the Zambian-Canadian artist born Ashanti Mutinta has dealt with battling heavy personal issues throughout her catalogue. With her unique blend of Abstract Hip-Hop, Post-Industrial, and Horrorcore, Backxwash re-invents herself stylistically with every release.
When this song dropped, there was a clear re-invention of her sound, this time trading out the harsh abrasiveness of past releases, like on 2020's I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND MY DRESSES, with much heavier self-focused lyrics. This trade-off worked 100% to her benefit, as this track is a direct meditation on her relationship with her mental health, which she has worked these themes into previously throughout her work. But the way this track sounds tells me that something is urgent. She’s on the edge of something, as if she’s painting a portrait of herself, the void, and the thing stopping her from going in.
A lot is going on within the track, so much that to any average listener, it can feel disorienting hearing her screaming “WAKE THE F*** UP” repeatedly over these crashing industrial drums and metal guitars. But the direction the track, throughout her emotions and grief, had a profound impact on how I view her catalogue now, almost as if I’m closer to knowing her. Amid the chaos coming through each section of the song, there is a resolution within the final two minutes where the instrumental is much more hushed, flipping a gospel sample over lyrics about saving herself from the thing she doesn’t want to become and even ending with the line, “Through the blackened skies I will not go gentle.”
I think “Wake Up” is one of the best songs of the past year, but I had no idea what else the rapper/producer had left in her tank. I didn’t even know this album was releasing this year until the day it dropped. It came as a surprise to me. Would she be able to raise the bar even higher, going toe-to-toe with the rest of her output? Will this be her big break, or will all the existentialism detract listeners?
Well, after hearing this album for the past week on repeat, I’ll say that, as I expected, this is the darkest she’s been lyrically on an entire project, pushing away heavier instrumental palettes in favor of herself, the way she details her battles with “darkness,” and how she utilizes these thoughts to directly engage listeners throughout her psyche without overwhelming her audience. She takes a similar approach to each track on this project compared to what she originally did with “Wake Up,” which also appears here, putting her messages at the forefront, letting her voice carry through all the pandemonium this album hides. It may be her quietest album she’s released, sure, but it’s by far her darkest and most personal, and dare I say it, the best thing Backxwash has done in her career.
Only Dust Remains opens with the track “Black Lazarus,” which sets the stage up slowly with these ominous, haunting tribal chants and claps, and eerily placed choral samples. They all make way for Backxwash to slowly lay down her playing field of grief and trauma before the track explodes into a mess of emotional madness. This beginning feels almost like a glimpse of what could be the end of the record. She’s closer to the void, laying down her burden with her exhausted delivery and wondering who will pray for her when all is said and done. It draws listeners into the darkness and directly moves them closer to her before changing pace and coming to an epiphany on the track “Wake Up.”
Following this is “Undesireable,” one of the shortest cuts on the album, where she’s tapping back into the demented horrorcore roots that formed her sound. While the production is lighter on the ears, embracing atmosphere over heaviness, Backxwash lyrically is starting her journey away from the darkness in hopes of finding any resolve. The emotional weight she carries when progressing past this dark place hits even harder within the context of the previous two tracks.
After a brief interlude, “9th Heaven” is yet another sonic shift, as it sounds like she’s moving away from the void with more fire in her belly. It’s the moment she finally recognizes that she’s found herself in a battle for her life and needs to start moving faster. The desperation in her voice is painful to hear, but it’s liberating that she can find a way out of this mess. The chorus starts with “I feel the pressure/Right from under my sweater/The trumpet and the horns/The drummer coming, The drummer coming.” She is passionate about moving past this moment, praying for some kind of spiritual transcendence along the way. She may not know if she’ll get out, but the fact that there is “an out” is a blessing in disguise, as by the end, she’s chanting that she feels “so motherf***ing free.”
Then, on “Disociation,” which features Chloe Hotline on the chorus, the calming switch-up is a breather that makes way for a more introspective message from Backxwash. The resolution that the album is hinting towards first shows up on this track, as in the second verse she writes, “I started running as shadows started to chase me/I had to pick up the pace and fix up my laces/And then
I saw the sun that lit up the pavement/And I saw your face in the grace, and it was amazing.” The subtlety around the production is a much-needed change of pace for the album that’s more freeing than everything until this point. Chloe’s vocals on this cut are soothing, almost acting as the voice of reason and a companion through Backxwash’s journey.
The following “History of Violence,” however, takes that brief glimmer of hope and crushes it thin. While also being the most openly political track she’s done, this cut is aggressively detailing not only her depression and desperation to free herself but also meditating on real-world conflicts and the ones who purposely decide to silence them. Matched with pounding drums and distorted vocal samples, Backxwash is letting it all loose over this cut, as her mind is a mish-mash of existentialist thoughts that makes the battle she’s fighting more personal.
On “Stairway to Heaven,” she’s moving further from her goal with a sense of forlornness, imagining what life would be like if she accidentally ended up as a casualty. This eerie descent of hushed instrumentals, matched with featured vocals from Ora Cogan, makes this feel like the funeral procession of the album, as it’s another glimpse of what could be the end. Is there an actual way out, or is it something we only hope will appear?
Thankfully, the album concludes with Backxwash finally being able to see the other side, and the title track wraps things up with a holistic and optimistic close. The cheery synth-leads, the group vocals leading the album out, and overall lighter atmosphere reads like the album’s end-credits. There’s a sense of hope, and while hope might not be a tangible thing, Backxwash uses this moment to wrap things up in a more hopeful place, saying, “For every moment in present/I don't need a reverend or a reference to heaven/I make it out this dark place when I'm in a hard state/But I wanna show y'all love, as I meant it.” It’s a positive note to end a heavy album on, not necessarily signifying that she has found the light but has a different approach to getting closer to it.
Only Dust Remains is an album that packs a ton of punch with each listen. Backxwash, at every stage in her career, is re-inventing herself both as a rapper and a producer. The journey she takes listeners on throughout its forty-minute runtime is a spiritual one of self-discovery, making it past the thing pulling you closer to the void. But despite being her quietest album, and despite my not even knowing about it until it came out, this is the grandest statement Backxwash has made thus far, and with each listen, I feel like I know her more. It’s a listen that adds more meaning to the rest of her catalogue, as many of the similarities this record shares with the rest of her output will probably see a new light of day. If you are at all a fan of rap rock, experimental hip-hop or appreciate conscious and personal storytelling, do not skip this one.
Favorite Tracks: Black Lazarus, Wake Up, Undesireable, 9th Heaven, Disociation, History of Violence, Stairway to Heaven, Only Dust Remains
Least Favorite: The Inturludes (although that’s not fair, tbh…)
9/10
