It's been cold, rainy, and gray all day. That means I'm finally in a suitably depressed mood to bang out a review of this piece of synthesizer blues from Hungary. This EP opens with a metronome-like beat that bangs away like a hammer as Buso gradually adds layer upon layer of warm synth texture, resulting in a glacially soothing concoction that sets the tone well.
The absolute lofi recording standard results in a mix that's completely muddy-yet this makes the EP flow well, focusing and compressing each song. "Heart and Shadow" is a dark reflecting pool of your own misery: there's a weird delaying or echo effect on the synthesizer that gives you a sense of claustrophobia before Buso starts intoning in an Ian Curtis-esque monotone. Of course, the recording's too muddy to make out the words, but that's part of the charm: it sounds like he's singing from the bottom of the ocean, deep in his cave, inviting you to come in. His vocal style throughout is muddled and distant, yet simultaneously warm. "Cry, Dance, Celebrate" is a killer tune that all you goofballs reveling in the goth punk revival will love: put on yr mascara and dance the night away.
"The Fall" is a simple, dirty guitar pattern with a bare coat of synth ambiance: it reminds me of a lofi version of Neil Young's Dead Man soundtrack. Really, that's the tone of this whole album: claustrophobic soundscapes bursting with emotion. Like the Thorir Georg EP, Januar, that came out in January, this is a beautiful piece of loner music, for a community built around isolation.
Download here.
Damn this is good. Cheers for your steady pipeline of jams from Hungary.
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