Review Summary: The xx, if the xx bumped
If you’ve listened to The xx and enjoyed their sound, then chances are you will like Data Romance. The two bands are extremely similar in a multitude of ways. Both bands are heavily influenced by electronic music, have a female vocalist, and employ minimalist elements in their music. Essentially, if you like The xx, you will enjoy Data Romance’s debut album.
Formed in 2009 by instrumentalist/producer Ajay Bhattacharyya and singer Amy Kirkpatrick, Data Romance is an electro indie band hailing from Vancouver. The band covers a wide range of sounds in their music, transitioning from minimalist electro-indie tunes to aggressive electronic tracks with relative ease.
“Cargo” is a perfect example of the former, with a simple backing beat and occasional string instrumentation being the only sounds complimenting Kirkpatrick’s soft vocal performance as she tries to bring a loved one back from the brink. And on the other side of the spectrum there’s the upbeat “She’s Been High.” Taking almost than a full minute and a half on a simplistic intro, the track begins to kick into high gear around one minute and forty seconds with a progressively bellicose beat. A beat that eventually transforms the song into an electro-dub induced banger where Kirkpatrick’s vocals grow increasingly disturbed to match the mood of the song.
Overall the production of the album is extraordinarily solid - track five, “Something to Me” has an actual heartbeat in its rhythm if you listen carefully enough - but the album suffers from a lack of diversity. Because the majority of the instrumentation on the album is electronic it becomes hard to tell one song from another. The result of this is that the tracks tend to blend together into one indiscernible electro indie mess. But as far as messes go though, this isn’t a particularly bad one to get lost in.
3.7/5
Recommended Tracks:
“She’s Been High”
“Cargo”
“Something to Me”
“Paper Thin”
