Review Summary: Lacking substance and identity.
Acrnym is a fairly unknown artist who incorporates many styles. It is easy to call him an IDM artist, but his songs aren't all structured as such. Many of these songs carry much electronic, breakcore, and experimental musicianship. Acrnym or Calum Gunn is a musician from Glasgow, Scotland who if I would compare him to anyone would probably say he is similar to Venetian Snares or WISP.
Gunn takes no time introducing his fast-paced style, when a sudden radio talk show host is cut off from "Kate Says Aye" the beats produce at an enormous rate. A barrage of beats and drums hits you within a minute and immediately turns melodic. The process continues within the song until it strings out with the host momentarily speaks with mumbles of "short-term, in addition, etc." being cut out every few seconds. "Kate Says Aye" is an energetic affair that keeps pace until the end.
You could say Acrnym has some mind-splitting songs, as before with "Kate Says Aye" the track to follow "Megastation Med Env" is even less subdued than its predecessor. Acrnym seems to find an odd sense of melody within these songs even if they are somewhat chaotic in a sense. This of course continues halfway into the album.
“Repeat” stands the best track on the album as it incorporates synth sounds, drum breaks, and rhythm – something that seemed to lack in the previous tracks. It is enjoyable to listen to…gradually the tracks seem to gain more melody within the first 3 tracks. Once again Acrnym doesn’t stop his onslaught of drum breaks and hard-nosed sounds within “Bargain Hunt”. Although it is very rough the short pauses that incorporate the short verses of ‘Fatality’ and angelic chorus does help elevate the stress it brings.
It’s easily seen that Acrnym seems to use a quiet beginning and rush through the process of the song with immediate drum beats. “Wrxzwrxzwrxz” stands as an isolated incident as it has none of those attributes to hear and is better for it. The lack of stress on the listener is alleviated.
“Lava Lump” of course breaks this isolated incident and goes with the previous workings of the album, not nearly as tough of a listen as “1980s Fetish”. Whatever melody Acrnym tries to bring in his songs is drowned in the loud character of sound and noise. The eerie “Of Corset Horse” is particularly mind-numbing throughout its entire process. It seems after listening to half of the album I’ve either noticed my room increased 10 degrees or my head just can’t take the constant attacks of Acrnym. Not saying Acrnym’s efforts aren’t at all futile, promise is shown within Flowers throughout “Kate Says Aye”, “Repeater”, and “Wrxzwrxzwrxz”.
Either Calum Gunn notices his head is in oblivion or he succumbs to his warmer influences of electronic and idm. “Outbox” takes a turn for the better. It feels as if I can relax, it isn’t exactly toned down, but to the sense compared to the previous songs it isn’t as mind assaulting, which compliments very well. Thankfully as the last few tracks progress so does the decrease on immensely quick, hard attacks. “The Knife” is a good change of pace for the first minute, until it goes through the same routine as the first half of the album. The best part of this is it stays with the melody so well you don’t feel the effect of the break beats or drum bombardment. Acrnym seems to find his calling within this song because it keeps his technique the same (tons of energy), but with a lot more welcome of melody that isn’t drowned. “Cuddle” seems pointless to me, the song itself seems it isn’t going anywhere and feels rushed…for a short 2 minutes it leaves you asking why. “Three” improves on this problem. The beginning of the song is lead out appropriately and gradually the drum beats and keyboard are brought in at the right time. The closer for the album “Pie” is perfect blending his styles of bass, drums, and keyboard within each other in an epic 6 minutes.
The problem with Acrnym’s release is it seems to lack an identity. Songs though are consistent within style, but the tunes within many songs either don’t work or lack enough to carry the song and leave interest to the listener. Still, Acrnym does give us some rough gems – “Repeat”, “Wrxzwrxzwrxz”, “Knife”, and the closer “Pie” are all done very well. I really recommend this to breakcore fans and even Aphex Twin fans who enjoyed such songs like Inkey $, this album in its entirety doesn’t come close to Richard D. James album, but there are a few gems within this debut to find it worthwhile. Now it is time to get some Tylenol.
