Review Summary: Sorrow is back with more in 2014 delivering his signature soundscapes and incredible atmospheres, but is it enough to keep listeners wanting more?
There seems to be an ever-increasing appreciation for the deeper and mellower sides of electronic music taking place all across the globe. While EDM and the massive culture it spawned forever changed the role electronic music would play in modern society and the live music industry, it’s reaching an overload. While of course there were always the deep-bass heads, almost creating a counter-culture to the massive scene of club bangers and brostep, electronic music lovers are simply desiring more engaging tunes these days; tunes that engage the mind instead of the body. Americanized dubstep and EDM seems to be on the decline due to over-saturation and simply a lack of quality in the massive quantity, allowing the true masters of the craft to emerge from the ruble exposing unaware listeners to the true roots of dubstep. One of the artists defining this new emergence is Bristol based producer Sorrow. With collaborations with fellow producers such as Asa, Koan Sound and Galimatias as well as recent remixes of artists such as Grimes, Stumbleine and Joker, Sorrow is making big waves in the niche sound that is steadily growing across the world.
Sorrow is back in 2014 with his brand new EP Hieroglyphics. Throughout the last few years, Sorrow has released several EP’s receiving positive reception to his unique take on the dubstep and garage genres. In 2013 the producer dropped his LP Dreamstone, which as the name suggests, offered listeners a fresh take on the deep bass and hard hitting beats by adding more pronounced dreamlike atmospheres and a cohesive sound necessary for an LP. With his latest release Hieroglyphics, gone are the ethereal and beautiful beams of light that shined through Dreamstone and instead we are taken into the darkest caverns of Sorrow’s sound. This EP is dark, brooding and eerie and the vibe is felt the strongest on the EP’s best track, Chronicle. From the first seconds the listener is swept into a thick, creepy wash of synth pads and textures that create an ominous environment of uncertainty. Distant vocal samples begin to emerge from the darkness that embody a ghostly and sorrowful feel. Steadily the track picks up and drops listeners headfirst into an incredible beat that mashes the constant meter of house music with the off-beats and rhythmic nuances of garage music.
The dedication to the darker sounds and themes on this EP works well for Sorrow and is undoubtedly a welcome addition to the producer’s already excellent discography. The song Cypher treats us to the grimy aesthetic that Sorrow has been latching onto in some of his recent productions and sits well as the EP’s middle track. Next we are dealt Lover’s Charm, which is easily one of Sorrow’s best songs yet. An infectiously catchy vocal sample sits at the forefront of the beat creating an ironically depressive feeling of loss and heartbreak. Groovy guitar lines and subtle dub wobbles enter the mix to once again show off the incredible knack for sound design the producer has.
While this EP certainly contains a few of Sorrow’s greatest productions yet, overall the EP does not offer enough reinvention or uniqueness to help it stand out from what we've come to expect from the producer. While Sorrow creates a sound that mesmerizes many music lovers upon first discovery, his discography is starting to show an unfortunate trend of redundancy. While Hieroglyphics once again proves that Sorrow is one of the greatest sound designers and deep electronic producers around right now, the sound is starting to grow stale. This hasn't yet become a detrimental problem for the producer but hopefully the next few releases we are treated to will showcase a more innovative and fresh approach to his sound.
Mourner - 3.5/5
Chronicle - 4.3/5
Cypher - 3.7/5
Lover’s Charm – 4.2/5
Kalypso – 3.5/5
