Review Summary: dark post punk in the vein of Zola Jesus, Depeche Mode and Conan Osiris
If you want me to describe this album in one word it will be something like “awesome-dope-sick-bitchin-rad-***” and it won’t tell anything about its awesomeness.
So, let's jump into the abyss of sounds and words together. Since Korfian - the graphic designer Spyros Psarras - had released an album “Baroque” he periodically flashed in the recommendations with his new EPs and albums. Has his music changed during the past five years? Yes and no at the same time. Still, mystical baroque electro dark pop that enchants you from the first notes, still mystical sounds and magnetic alluring vocals. But tracks became deeper, more immersive and lunatic.
The album starts with “Send-Off” where music is barely audible and all attention is grabbed by the spoken word. If you close your eyes and listen to the voice that calls you and leads you, it will seem to you as if you are in a temple - a voice reading a sermon sounds like it was reflected from the walls and you hear a booming echo.
“March Now!” continues the theme of mysterious chants but the rhythm of drums adds harsh notes in the style of the march. And electronics with ethnic motifs are trying to drag you into a crazy ritual dance - this mix is mindblowing. “Nuclear Option” at first glance sounds like the previous one - but then you see the difference in the beat pattern and you feel how the mood has changed in this track - as if to forewarn and forestall you. And in “Worth” the echo and the breakbeat gives you a fantastic illusion of a choir - it’s a real magic how the simple man's voice can hypnotize and cradle you.
“Sabotage” welcomes you with murmuring vocals and a calm melody that sets the rhythm. It doesn’t sound like propaganda, but like a seductive persuasion. Hypnotizing vocals drug all your attention. You just want to sway on its waves.
“Efthini” greets you with Marrakesh inspired theme and plangent croons. And in your head you see the limestone towers covered with sand, the shine of the water in the oasis and the palm trees surrounding it. The camel caravan disappears in the haze over the hot sand and the voice spreads over the landscape. It's like you're floating in a viscous fog where reality mixes with illusion. And then it slowly flows into “Ta Efodia” and the mood changes again. I felt quite confused - although the arrangement is up-to-date the vocals sound like incredibly sad folk songs - you could hear them in every nation that's why they sound so familiar to everyone. So modern and at the same time auld (old but gold, not time-worn)
And “Divine Plan” is one of the craziest songs I’ve ever heard. Again the illusion of choir and a clear rhythm remind you of gospel and at the same time it evokes persistent associations with shamanic tambourines, they are echoed by sounds resembling the jingling of rings that are usually attached to them.
I don't know if creating a perfect meditation tracklist was the idea of the album - but listening to it allows you to relax, forget about worries and think about the eternal. The measured rhythm, electro-ethnic motifs and hypnotic voice plunge you into trance. Mesmeric voice and shamanic rhythms intertwined with modern electro and ambient in unimaginable symbiosis. Sometimes it sounds like modern prays for meditation, then - like a letter written to future generations and suddenly it turns to be a dialog with your inner world. Once you could listen to this dark pop electro baroque - you will definitely fall in love with it.
