EP DOUBLE BILL: Eyes Ablaze by Blake.08 and Multiplicity by Memory Motel

EYES ABLAZE - EP

5 months after his first EP of the year, Sydney / Eora electronic artist Blake.08 is back with three new tracks to add to his burgeoning discography, in the form of the EP Eyes Ablaze. And as with Blake.08’s past releases, for every new track, there’s an extended mix thoughtfully included.

As an electronic solo producer and artist, mixing and arrangement are thrown into sharper relief as a point of critique - and Blake.08 passes with flying colours, with punchy percussion and bass notes that plumb frequencies that you feel more than you hear. The kinetic nature of it is satisfying; there are enough moving parts to maintain interest without feeling cluttered or excessive. This is particularly pronounced on Low Vision, the track where Blake.08 seems most comfortable, letting the warping low frequencies carry you through.

Source: Supplied

While there is generally a muted, late-night feel to each song on this release, the title track has a particularly dark colour to it. There’s heaviness all around thanks to the addictive beat, but coupling it with the cold female vocals lends it an additional touch of melancholy that contaminates even the major chords in the progression. The lyrics may not always be explicit but that isn’t necessarily the aim here - the induced mood is still clear and present.

This particular brand of electronic music is at its best when it has room to breathe, taking time to build and to ease - take the third original track, Dance With Me, which manages to tease out the drop for more than 2 minutes without losing your attention, which is certainly not an easy achievement. Even when the focus isn’t on a raucous beat, the synth sounds are gorgeous. You’ll find skittering analogue arps and warm pads of various ilks, imbuing the instrumental track with more playful energy than its siblings.

When it comes to the extended mixes, you could get the impression that these are the tracks in their intended form, with the shortened versions being radio edits. Peering through the relatively simple arrangement, there is more than meets the eye, with percussive layers fluttering in and out of reach, and thanks to the inclusion of the extended versions, you’ve got more time to sit back and fall into the commanding groove set by Blake.08.

You can stream Eyes Ablaze here

MULTIPLICITY - EP

Ready to lie back and get lost in a haze? The harbour city’s got you covered with a new EP by 5-piece indie-psychedelic outfit Memory Motel. The 5-track Multiplicity is an indistinct, ambient collection in the vein of Slowdive that’s a simultaneously pleasant and slightly sinister place to get lost; a gorgeous world to be in, but with a vague sense that you may not be able to get out even if you want to.

For an independent, underground artist, there’s a remarkably confident feel to the new EP, allowing the experimentation to present itself in the groove of each track. However, it’s the synth work that’s the highlight here, the glue that binds the EP together. The pads, leads and arpeggiators that swamp each piece feel more centric to the sound than any of the guitars dipping in and out, particularly on the title track. It’s a refreshing sound for sure, not content with letting reverb-drenched guitars have all the fun, and it ties the EP together nicely. Psychedelic rock can be a surprisingly hard style to pull off, but Memory Motel doesn’t seem to have any difficulty with it at all. It’s music that feels free, improvisational, and acidic, and yet doesn’t feel directionless or idle.

Source: Supplied

Across the EP, the Sydney / Eora band explores some different shades of introspection. The opening track is something of a red herring, with a washed-out pub rock feel that will lull you into a false sense of security that dissipates on the next track, The Search. Arguably the strongest and most enveloping of the songs, this track is one that swims in a cocktail of ambivalence, throwing up mellow indifference and painful anger in equal measure. Track 3, Multiplicity, gets darker still - cut to the paranoid Catatonic and you’ve suddenly got a much more sinister sound on your hands, one that still manages to leak into the last track, Dizzy. While not strictly a concept EP, there is a hidden flow of mood that presents itself on careful inspection.

Though it can be a little unpolished in places, there are some absolutely fantastic moments on Multiplicity, particularly in the instrumental sections when the band really let fly and the chemistry is palpable. Come for the initial indie darling vibes, and stay for the magnetic synth work and vibrant layering when the band revel in paranoia.

You can stream Multiplicity here