The Score Magazine - Archive May 2015 issue! | Page 49

Shreya Bose
Indie reviews
Break Me Down
(Alpha Being ft. Bitter's Kiss)
The 19 year old producer from Hyderabad offers a brand of sound that has always been popular
for its ability to harness a liminal position that often relates directly to the human mind's
subconscious inclinations towards uncertain marginalities. The downtempo progression patches
itself through on a series of auditory caresses that depend on concocting ambience rather than
establishing specifics of technique. There's no incredible solo to be had, but there's plenty to
roll back and disconnect into. Consider it a wall of sound that lets you switch yourself off and
redirect your consciousness. The trippy, dreamy yet unlooped swathe of sound isn't deprived
of nuance, but it takes you a couple of listens to tune into the gradations of sound-sculpting. US
based vocalist Bitter's Kiss AKA Chloe Baker vocalises the detachment this song is capable of
engendering, and does it rather well. Conclusively, Alpha Being is off to a good start, and here's
hoping that he doesn't fall off the wagon.
Obvious creative promise.
Possibly obtuse to less discerning listeners.
Drones
(Curtain Blue)
Abhishek Bhatia's long awaited EP is of luminous countenance. His year long composition and
compilation of sounds has resulted in a mechanism of sound which is razed in cauldrons of pop
and electronica and layered with semi-scattered vocals to achieve an engaging yet challenging
finality. Drones toes the line between pop and dance music ( not mutually exclusive). An
infallibly intoxicating conglomeration of beats break into bending tempo comprised of starry
bass and whirling spaces of abrupt minimalism. Sentinels is an exercise in linearity , once you
realise that the choppy tones use the gaps between them to actually constitute a continuance.
Its a brilliant display of technical manipulation, detectable after a couple of replays. Interplay of
slightly non-symmetrical beats casts a trippy swish that isn't easy to replicate. My Obscurity can
easily be snared into a new age noir film reel. It tosses equal parts of groove and would fit right in
with a half-darkened deluge of a disco where dancers are losing themselves while the protagonist
looks to do the exact opposite and find answers. A striking patching of electro acoustic plinks in
the midst actually transforms into a mechanically generated line of sobs that is bone-chilling. In
Dreams ft. Kavya Trehan is ripe for interpretation through expressionist dance. Murky, sludgy
vocals dusted with piercing, rakish beats give you something to bite into. Its entirely capable of
injecting itself into your perceptions, and if you let, take them over for a few glorious minutes.
Veers away from run-of-the-mill electronica.
Nothing in particular.
Recommended: Drones, In Dreams ft. Kavya Trehan
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