It’s been 5 years since I started reviewing for Bluesbunny, and things have come full circle as I’m now asked to review the new release from the band which was my first review.
The dark and ominous beginning of “A World Unknown” should have been the start of a minimalist masterpiece, but instead we get a dull, rambling, and at 7 minutes, overlong, piece which leaves the listener wondering if Heaven would be so bad after all, despite the chorus promising to save you and keep you alive. In amongst the, at times, jarring arrangement, Li’l Sister Jen’s vocals are buried so deep in the mix that any ethereal effect which they might have had is overplayed. The track finishes with a sample stating “There is nothing happy about that music…It sounds sad” but unfortunately it just leaves the listener sadly disappointed. Things don’t pick up much for the rest of the songs which are overly repetitive beds with vocals which are so low in the mix as to almost be indecipherable. What’s the point in writing lyrics if no one can make them out? There is one track however, “Perpetual Snow”, which shows a hint of Pysrock’s earlier talents. It should be noted that this is both an instrumental and the shortest piece on the EP
What made Psyrock’s previous CD interesting was a sense of movement and randomness within the tracks, like being taken on an aural journey with no map, and was akin to listening to The Future Sound of London. Unfortunately those elements are missing in this EP, and what we’re left with is a rather dull collection of songs which are so downbeat they make Portishead sound like a party band. Usually collaborations produce something which is greater than the sum of the parts but strangely the opposite has been true this time.
Available as a free download.