Chósta is preserving the sanctity of his city in ‘Vox’
Chósta, credit: Nicholas O’Donnell
Chósta is preserving the sanctity of his city in ‘Vox’
Words: Dylan Murphy
The producer wrestles with decades of gentrification in Dublin on his winding new single, his first of 2022.
In 2021, Irish producer Chósta provided us with a naturalistic exploration of Donabate beach through the field recordings of his debut self-titled project. Marrying his diverse range of influences with a nostalgic showcase of the area that made him, he produced a record that smoothed out the edges during a rusty transition back into normal life.
Now, Chósta returns with his first single of 2022. ‘Vox’ comes shortly after he supported Caribou at Iveagh Gardens and sees him blend footage from old archival interviews from Moore Street Markets with tender instrumentation to tell a story of the capital’s cultural erosion. It’s another step in the producer’s evolution that has seen him move, away from club-oriented sounds, for the moment anyway.
Speaking on the single he says, “During the interminable third lockdown early last year, I was watching grainy old footage from RTE’s archives on YouTube and there were a couple of clips that stood out. Both were light hearted news segments interviewing stall owners on Dublin’s renowned Henry and Moore Street markets from the 1970s and 80s, but one particular stall owner struck a chord with me. This lady made holly and wax flowers by hand, carrying on four generations of tradition in her family, but she was the last florist left in that particular area mostly because her colleagues had been turfed out due to the increasing commercialisation of the street.
It was a bit of an awakening for me, in that we perceive gentrification and cultural erosion as a fairly recent phenomena, but in reality it was going on in the early 80s and before. Despite this, she remained defiant.”
“This is my part of Dublin and it’s a part I’m never going to give up.”
Talking about the power of art in the face of cultural erosion he adds, “I feel it’s crucial that art documents culturally significant landmarks and iconography, particularly as those in positions of power in Dublin have a flagrant disregard for culture of any sort. I think people all across the spectrum have felt the affects of poor planning and cultural vandalism in Ireland.”
The release comes after Chósta released The Chósta EP in 2021, a project made up of field recordings that showcased his world building skills.
Listen to ‘Vox’ below:
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