Alpaca-in-Chief's latest single, "Ex-God in a Toga," is a fever dream on the brink of reason, a tantalizing concoction of surreal lyricism and shadowy, striking soundscapes. This is not a track that plays, it preys. It is a glitter with poetic implications and gut response so poignant that it lasts long after the last note fades. Adhering to first impressions, it is evident that this is a major creative stride for Alpaca-in-Chief.
The ambiance is soaked in a baffling, part-noir score, part existential inner monologue. One is intended to get lost in this music, to roam through poorly lit passageways in one's own mind where the parts of faith, personality, and self-invention come into touch. This is a background, a striking snapshot caught in music. As far as its theme is concerned, "Ex-God in a Toga" brushes on the holy and the silly, smudging that sacred line between homage and dissidence. It reads this lyrical freeform, an inhumation wild be astray of sacred blows, in which scripture influences and metaphysicists retool. In other words, it is the sort of lyrical surrealism that brings the listener to cryptogram and editorializing but always stays just out of reach, tremble such a riddle whispered in the pitch. In terms of sound, its construction is robust and calculated, creating a feeling that is both connected and substantial. Every note exhibits a propensity, building suspense and foreshadowing.
With "Ex-God in a Toga," Alpaca-in-Chief doesn't just push the boundaries of innovation, they demolish them. This leads to a part that sings as everlasting and epic, frighteningly and touching, life-changing. It is an invitation to lose oneself in a while, seeing some of the sacred in the folly.