They're spooky, theremins. Spooky and fun, and I have a lot of time for them, so as you can imagine I was delighted when Spray Paint, the third track on sevenqrtrs' fantastic album The Road Leads to Nowhere, came on. The track is built entirely around this relentless theremin sample, supported by scratching and a thumping boom bap beat. It's the point in the album where I was convinced. This is an artist who knows how to make an engaging track that you'll remember.
The beats here are great, and compliment the lyricism perfectly. The Bandcamp page name checks MF DOOM and you'll hear that everywhere, from the choice of samples to the lyrical flow, and the way fun and darkness are so frequently juxtaposed. On one hand, there's Man's Best Friend, the darkest point of the album, where sevenqrtrs recounts the story of a man's dog being hit by a car. On the other, there's the Britney Spears sampling Drop Toxic, a straight up banger asking people to embrace peace in their life by dropping toxicity.
There's a couple moments on the album that didn't hit quite as hard, mind. For the most part I think the album's production is top notch, but on the string-heavy The Crucible, I can't help but feel said strings are competing for attention with the vocals and the bass in a way that make it kind of a difficult listen. I had a similar issue with Andy Warhol, where ILLMURRAY's guest vocals sound like they were recorded with the cheapest mic on Earth.
That's the nature of the beast, though. Those issues aside I had a really great time listening to this album and have gone back to some of the tracks a few times only to find more depth to both the lyricism and the arrangements. I'd highly recommend checking it out.