Pedestrian Deposit - Vestige

You know it's been a long time since I could actually say I heard music that made me want to start crying, write bad poetry, and sulk in my room. Grant it I have heard noise albums that have made me want to cry myself to sleep write bad poetry and destroy things, but never with the "emo" consequences that come as a result of my younger days. I think we can all agree that was a phase (although for some it's not *cuts wrists*). I think the last time an album or song made me want to do that was probably Saves the Day or the New Amsterdams in 8th grade.

Finally there comes an album that does its job in making you depressed or at least forelorn. Pedestrian Deposit's latest LP, Vestige is an example of when harsh and drone come together to make a perfect symphony of distress and hopelessness. Now when I say that I feel "emo", it doesn't mean that this is an "emo" album. In fact it's the direct opposite. Anyone who is familiar with Jon Borges knows that he is best known for blasting the ears of everyone in his path with his various projects, most notably Pedestrian Deposit. Capable of reaching mindblistering terrors as well as melancholic dissonance, Jon Borges has gained a reputation for being one of the most diverse acts in the harsh noise genre.

So when I say this album (Vestige) makes me feel "emo" I hope Jon knows that I mean this in the best sense of the word. I mean it as in it makes me want to start taking drugs again to numb the pain and take more leaps out of my dad's speeding car. That was emo for me, a little bit more extreme but I tend to be on the more extreme side.

When one turns over the album to side B, they will see the words, "I sincerely hope you can overcome" sprawled at the bottom. While these words reflect the personal touch to "Vestige" they also serve as words of warning and/or feigned encouragement to those who listen to this album. Because believe me, after you listen to this album you're going to need words of encouragement like that to help you.

Vestige starts off by fooling the listener into thinking this is going to be another romp through hell as the harsh blasts kick in on the first side with the tracks, "Angora, Ideal, and An Examination." That lasts for all but 20 seconds before the "sour times" kick in" what follows is a 3 minute loop-jaunt of droney depression straight out of a Larry Clark movie. The tracks continue this way before devolving back into harshland and finally ending on a perfect mix of brutal noise and opressive loops. Either way you slice it, you don't come out ahead and you'll either end up hitting your dog or hitting yourself.

As difficult as it is to fathom, the second side of this album is a lot darker than the first side. While "Angora" gave us vintage Borges and "Ideal" and "An Examination" through you on an emotional rollercoater, "Asphixyiate" and "Materialism", the last two tracks on the album, were meant to simply kill. There are no harsh blast beats of electronics. There is no brutal mindfuck of a pedal symphony. Instead there is just more dark ambient drone, more loops and much more depression or rather opression. This half of the album is what really made me fall in love with Vestige.

"Asphixyiate" loops continously until your senses are dulled and your pain is intensified. This track reminds me of every shitty town I've been in along the freeway on a rainy day when you're just looking for somewhere to say. The 5 second rest between this track and "Materialism" is almost unnoticeable as the album seemlessly weaves its way into another unsettling loop session. The aptly "Materialism" continues its depressing assault of hopelessness until the album simply runs out and before you've realized it, you've listened to the whole record wishing there was more.

And that's what Jon Borges is best at doing: giving you pain and making you want more. Pedestrian Deposit has a masochistic theme to it and indeed the music reflects this. The music inflicts mental, emotional and aural pain on the listener and afterwards, all you want to do is listen to more. Borges is a master of thematic cultivation with this project as even the artwork is brilliantly done to match the mood of the album and the music. The "modern" 50's profile of a woman on the front and the deviant sexual S&M truth to her on the inside is cleverly done. If there was an perfect "emo" album for noiseheads it would be "Vestige". Once again I'm not saying the Pedestrian Deposit is emo, or even really saying a genre or MUSICAL term "emo" even exists. I'm just saying our brand of "emo" tends to be more miserable, more nihilistic and more helpless--like "Vestige".


This album is easily the best pure noise album I've heard all year so far. It's original, deceptive, unsettling, unnerving and one of the best if not the best effort by Borges so far. I cannot stress how much I fucking love this album and how much the noise genre still surprises me by taking my misery index to new levels and finding new ways to leave me in despair.
- Topher