A sonic journey comprising six tracks, Sharmi Basu’s Sicko is the zenith to their expansive catalog of experimental compositions that meditates on envisioning a sense of personal and collective liberation. This forty-four minute long masterpiece bends, weaves, repeats, deconstructs then rebuilds sound to formulate a new language of healing communicated uniquely through the world of Beast Nest. As a prominent educator and healer within their community, Basu’s artistic output has always been connected to sharing the power of compassion, and how to create tangible bonds between marginalized people through music. Even in the most dissonant valleys of Sicko’s sonic landscape, Basu never abandons their listener. Rather, they descend into darkness with you as the instrumentation surrounds you with the rhythmic pulse of various arpeggiators and drawn out sound textures crescendoing up to the LP’s closing waves of bliss. Sicko offers more to the listener than just an album — it is an experience of aural idiosyncrasies and multi-dimensional processes that lead one to find solace away from the colonialist confines of the material world. Upon multiple replays of this album, I was reminded of the catharsis I felt when I first fell in love with Beast Nest’s work: a sense of communal healing Basu generously offers to those closest to the heart of their artistic vision. -Sepehr Mashiahof Track List: 1 Relief / Refuge 8:042 Jsun 6:203 Kim, People Are Dying 7:234 Into The Tangerine 9:415 Frog 5:386 Ur Doing Great Sweaty 6:03
