The review of this "Superior", by the artist GBΛFLΛME, has been probably one of the most difficult for me to write since I have stumbled across this website. Not because I disliked the album, but because underneath its apparent simplicity there is clearly a lot of interesting exploration going on, which makes it fascinating and evasive at the same time. I hope I managed to express myself properly and that this review will hel you appreciate this impressive work.
I'm sure, dear readers, that most of you have encountered one of those optical illusion pictures, where you blink and all of a sudden you see a completely different image, even if not a single line on the page has changed. Or maybe you had this experience on the auditory level with the Yanni or Laurel illusion? Then you know how I've felt while listening to this album.
The reason for this "dissonance" is the polyhedric nature of this release. The songs are all very chill and soft, and they could easily be labelled as IDM, but I think that would be an oversimplification. The artist has clearly put a lot of attention on creating memorable melodies that hook the listener and remain stuck in their heads for a long time. The results definitely show great songwriting skills, and a very "pop" attitude that aims at creating a sense of comfortable repetitiveness, with melodic lines that are catchy but not trite.
On the other side, there is also a greeat amount of experimentation and exploration in terms of sounds, with mysterious drones, curious percussion patterns, and some synths that are definitely coarser than those you'd find on your average radio hit. There's nothing too extreme, but at the same time our ears are lead to explore uneven terrains in more than one occasion.
I also liked the alternance between the vocal lines that decorate some of the tracks (again, very catchy, easy to remember and potential earworms) with the spoken words insert that seem to come from odl black and white movies and increase tha aura of surrealism of the record.
I really hope I managed to convey the kaleidoscope of sensations that this album carried me through. I'm still on the fence regarding whether or not this style is my cup of tea, but I find it very interesting nonetheless, and I think you should give it a try.
