It Is Clear What Is Going On

Description

The punk group DEBT RAG continues to demonstrate the explosive potential of collaboration. It Is Clear What’s Going On offers us a window into their shared musical universe, encapsulated on tape as a vibrant, shimmering whole. Listening to this album is like peeking through the keyhole into their rehearsal space and discovering an explosion of colors and experiments, punctuated by bursts of laughter. DEBT RAG laughs, not at you, but not with you either. DEBT RAG only cares about DEBT RAG and the joyful hubbub that arises from making music with its most creative collaborators. These tracks hold immense potential, and not just in the abstract. What is the range of a single cymbal? How many different vocalizations can three people produce? What is the emotional potential of a trumpet? DEBT RAG asks these questions and answers them. Their music is vast, completely free, but never complacent. Whether perpetuating the trio’s long tradition of protest anthems (“Gary’s World”, “Syzygy”) or juxtaposing fragments of a rehearsal (“Drumbo 2”, “Smartest Musicians”), their compositions are highly refined and follow a fascinating logic, born of their own invention. Each track is a small world, vibrant, with surgical precision and absolute clarity. DEBT RAG is true to itself. We could all learn from it.