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Cacoethes

by John Americus Witt

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1.
The Depression Rabbits 14:49
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2.
Violate Flemish Themes 03:08
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3.
Stark Red 10:21
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4.
Cacoethes 26:41
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OUC037: John Americus Witt / Cacoethes

Cacoethes is the root of a few longer phrases. Cacoethes Scribendi is the phenomenon of writing as a mania, or a terrible habit. Cacoethes Loquendi is the same notion, but as regards the need to talk ceaselessly and at length. Cacoethes in a general sense is an irresistible urge to do something unadvisable. Few things more succinctly define the course of Human history better than this simple notion. Settle in. It’s a long one.

The Depression Rabbits are sweet little guys who come around when it’s time to completely give up. This is a temporary state, mostly. A time to let fatigued muscles breathe and the particular mania of the season to subside a bit. They are a boon, really. Trouble is, they can also be seductive. It’s harder to start a cold engine. This Cacoethes is simultaneously the urge to continue and the urge to stop. Be wise or be lucky.

Violate Flemish Themes is an interlude; the shortest song on any album by a good bit. It is also an anagram. There are two on this album. We’ll get to the other one in a minute. This one is about coming home. How this can be both victory and defeat. Some animals travel huge distances to breed and die in the same place they were born. Some people do the same.

Stark Red Augustines is the other anagram. The original wording and this garbled transliteration both encourage self-destructive behavior that feels great. Free and alive. Saint Augustine seemed to think that Evil sprung solely and fully formed from the heart of Man, and that anything divine was to be held eternally blameless. It’s a good trick. Trouble is, everything costs. Always will. Even the most charitable of us eventually get tired of footing the bill.

Cacoethes is the last track, serving as a macroscopic study of the relentless glacial furrow we have plowed across the face of the Earth. Stops and starts. Relative quiet and relative chaos. A working memory of maybe 80 years, give or take. Repetition is the game here. What we want remains in conflict with what we want to want. It is a problem without resolution. This song, at the very least, ends.

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released February 18, 2022

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Off - record label Brussel, Belgium

Off is a Belgian based label founded by Alain Lefebvre in 2007. You can visit the full site at:
off-recordlabel.blogspot.com

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