Phara is, as far as this reviewer can tell, a relatively new artist from Sarajevo who traffics in the kind of ambient/mellow/dark IDM-ish kind of music that I really enjoy. The tracks are infused with beautiful melodic synth lines that interweave well with the beats and the surrounding sounds. The beats, when used, are powerful but don’t overwhelm the melodies. There is an overall wonderful “aura” that Phara generates throughout this interesting album. It’s very atmospheric but it’s not just pure ambient, the balance keep a listener invested in the tracks.
I very much enjoy that Broken Signal plays like an album, not just a collection of tracks. Clearly Phara gave some thought (and probably played around with the track order a bit to settle on this final version!?) to how he wanted a listener to experience Broken Signal. In this day and age of Tik-Tok attention spans, I always appreciate an album that sounds like it was put together to be played as a cohesive work, and that definitely applies to Broken Signal!
I can’t think of any specific influences to point at, which is of course admirable, but overall if you are a music fan who likes ambient, ambient techno, experimental leaning soundscapes, intelligent dance music and/or soundscape tracks, you will find a lot to interest you here, and there’s no reason you wouldn’t want to add this to your collection!
Additionally, the artwork is very compelling, According to the credit Phara is the artist as well. It’s just a photograph, but the starkness and the coloring really match the music perfectly!
Final words: a very strong debut from an artist that I will certainly be keeping my eyes open for moving forward!