In a way, I always had problems with electronic music. Somehow... it kinda felt artificial. It lacked the "organic" sound of "real" instruments. That's why I usually only liked a few songs from the genre. Like
Aphex Twin with Windowlicker for example. There are even fewer full length LPs that I really like. This album is one of those albums. How does that come? Boom Bip presents an interesting mix here. Yes, it's electronica, and yes, it's kinda ambient. Still, at the same time, it is a bit Indie, and more.
Except for two tracks the songs are all instrumental only. Vocalists on those songs is not Bryan Hollan aka Boom Bip himself though. On "Do's and Don'ts" Super Furry Animals vocalists Gruff Rhys takes the duty on the mic, while Nina Nastasia sings on "The Matter (of our discussion)". It gives the songs an interesting aspect, and the vocal performance is solid by both singers. Like I already mentioned, I personally often expect a more or less artificial sound when I get music from this genre into my hands, but the songs on this album all sound quite 'organic', which suprised me a bit. In a really positive way that is. Every song has at least one instrument that sounds "real", which gives the songs an interesting feel. As one that listens a lot to rock-oriented music, this is a nice thing to hold on to. Like a Rock band, that is turned into a live ambient band with the help of some electronic elements. This brings forth songs that sometimes seem Jazzy here, a bit more Indie there, and sometimes even 70s psychadelia or Post-Rock. Songs like "Girl Toy" change from a more Indie Post-Rock feel to sudden Lo-Fi Electronica, as some keyboard sounds enter that coud resemble the soundtrack of old game consoles. Where "Dumb Day" starts out with slightly creepy acoustic guitar, which gets quite peacful once the background instruments tune in.
The mood in general is very relaxed. There are some spots where the music seems a bit dark so to say, but in general, the songs turn to a brighter side at one point. Like the already mentioned "Dumb Day", but also on songs like "Eyelashings". The song "Aplomb" (kinde brooding and menacing) even reminds of Mogwai in a way. So, we have an Electronic/Ambient album here, that does not seem like one at all, as it is quite Rock here and there. Sounds cool, everything top notch here then? Well, like with everything, there are downsides. Depending on your mood and patience, the songs seem like they really stretch here and there. Someticmes I really love the album from the first to the last second. Sometimes it just goes to slow for me, and I skip tracks. Why that? It can seem a bit monotonous, as certain themes and parts get repeated a lot. So it comes down to "Are you ready for it know, or maybe better come back later to this?" Still, there is a lot to discover here. I'm sure that with each listen, you can spot some details you did not notice before.
But for whom is this album? That is a good question. I showed it to people that like electronica, I showed it to people that like rock. It was a very mixed response, some liked bits, some liked whole songs, others did not like it at all. So I do not recommend a buy without listenening to it. Otherwise, it could be very boring. To sum it up, you should definately check this out before a buy. Possibly online with the link provided on the band bio here on Sputnik. It can be a very inetersting album, but it can be quite boring as well. So in the end, it's not more than a 3 from me.
Still worth a check out though. So if you want some different electronica, give this guy a chance.
