Review Summary: An essential listen for anyone remotely interested in IDM and electronic indie-pop.
I Am Robot And Proud is a one-man based electronica act from Ontario, CA who has produced 6 full length albums, along with a pair of EP's and a video game side project in which Shaw-Han Liem orchestrates the sound design. His music can be described as danceable yet heartwarming and precious; organic electronica to go out and do errands to. Liem's 3rd album, The Electricity In Your House Wants To Sing, is arguably his best; from the piano-led title-track opening to the magnificent "Center Cities". Liem finds his niche in an optomistic, melodical fashion - a dreamier The Postal Service.
Where The Electricity In Your House Wants To Sing lacks in variation keeping it from a higher score, it more than makes up for in wonderous melody and a free-flowing atmosphere that keeps you genuinely surprised at every corner. Songs like "Good Sleep" showcase Liem's knack for subtlety in a short and sweet track. Much of The Electricity In Your... is composed in this same vain; small numbers that invigorate the mind and the feet. Another highlight of the album is "The Work", which weaves together intricate melodic lines and textures into a wonderfully coherent whole. There is an organic quality to this music that belies its mechanical precision.
Much like contemporaries such as Animal Collective, Marumari, and The Postal Service, I Am Robot And Proud cements himself as a wonderous, child-like experience with The Electricity In Your House Wants To Sing. Contrapuntal interplay between melody and subtle drum beats give off an original, yet sometimes uniform journey one will soon not forget. An essential listen for anyone remotely interested in IDM and electronic indie-pop.
