earinfluxion

earinfluxion

15 February 2017

worriedaboutsatan:
Blank Tape (This Is It Forever)

Blank
Tape
is my first experience with the music of worriedaboutsatan, and
honestly the name had me leery of what lurked within. But the music
of worriedaboutsatan is lush and even sublime at times, a health
blend of classically melodic IDM, indie pop, and voluptuous
atmospheres so thick you can practically wade through them. It’s the
duo’s third album, and their first for project member Gavin Miller’s
label, This Is It Forever. After the vibrant tease of opening cut “A
Way Out,” “The Violent Sequence” is carried by a steady 4-4
muted kick and persistent arpeggios and syncopated stabs. It’s a nice
way to kick off the proceedings, but it’s with “The Tower and the
Steward” that Blank Tape really gets going, in my opinion. Its deep
bass synth is the perfect counterpoint to its swooning, sweeping wall
of strings, pads, and brass, capturing the same big atmosphere of a
contemporary act like Bersarin Quartett, Murcof, or Apparat. In fact,
the vocal collaborations on Blank Tape distinctly recall the big
emotive swoon of Moderat (Apparat’s collaborative project with
Modeselektor). Vincent Cavanagh’s airy vocal even sounds a bit like
Sascha Ring or Thom Yorke, another reason to draw the Moderat
comparisons.

Blank Tape by worriedaboutsatan

Face+Heel contributes airy, female vocals to “Lament”
while stereo delays skitter in the periphery. Those are the only two
cuts that feature vocals at all, but they are crucial to Blank Tape’s
success, positioned close together with an instrumental between them
in the front-center of the playlist. And it was smart to include
“From a Dead Man… Part 2” at the end of the album (though it
brings up the question: where is part 1?), whose synth murmurs at its
beginning percolate into rolling arps over a steady beat. It feels
like a book-end to “The Violent Sequence” toward the front of the
album, and there is a keen sense of balance, harmony, and unity
between the album’s ten tracks. Whether its cuts are more
atmospheric, propulsive, instrumental, or vocal, Blank Tape is a
great success from start to finish. Highly recommended.

Buy it: Bandcamp

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