Dis Fig gives anguish a language of its own on The Snake You Built, a haunting preview of her forthcoming album, What to Make of These Mortal Hands. Ache arrives through abstraction, yet the track’s unexpectedly melodic shape makes its force immediate and truly affecting.
Funereal beats, electronics and sparse instrumentation form an atmosphere that feels dreamlike yet strangely earthly. Dis Fig’s voice initially moves through that space like an apparition, restrained but heavy with unspoken feeling. As the song develops, the performance grows increasingly unbound, eventually reaching a wild intensity that borders on physical pain.
The Snake You Built was created with sound and emotion preceding conventional language. Rather than replacing the original vocal take with carefully composed lyrics, Dis Fig retained her own instinctive vocabulary and allowed meaning to emerge from expression itself.
The process gives the track its peculiar power. Its apparent aberrance never creates emotional distance; instead, it reveals how melody, breath and rupture can speak more directly than explanation.
What to Make of These Mortal Hands arrives October 23rd, 2026 through Thrill Jockey.
Photo by Camille Blake
ZR