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I don't know if it's intentional, I imagine it is, but Kevin Koi's What We're Meant To Be opens with a drum machine part that sounds identical to Blue Order's Blue Monday. When the song kicks in proper, the shadow of that song never quite leaves, even when tonally it's pretty far removed.

Instead of the bopping bassline, we're treated to a very post-punk sounding bass guitar line accompanied by meandering synths and jangling guitars, but somehow amongst it I can still hear that melody singing "How does it feel does it feel?", even though no vocals ever actually arrive.

Unlike Blue Monday, however, there's a sickliness to this one. The guitars are discordant, and all the melodic lines seem to trend downward. I like it, I like the mood that it conveys, and despite being pretty dissonant, it all feels pretty intentional to my ears.

That is, until, a switch-up at around the half way point. Everything drops out suddenly outside of the drum machine, a much more subtle bass part, and the synth. It's not a smooth transition, and the new synth line doesn't give you that much to latch onto. As more synths and drums come in, it regains that cohesion, only to throw it out the window by reintroducing those guitars.

I'm not really sure it worked for me, and it all ended up sounding a bit chaotic to my ears. It's not clear what I'm meant to feel or take from it, which is a shame because the first half of the track I thought was really cool.

There's an aesthetic to this artist's tracks that I really enjoy. I like the post-punk sound and the big drum machines, but in terms of composition I didn't really get what this track was going for, other than just trying stuff out. Maybe that's as good an intention as any.