It takes a certain level of skill and dedication to create musical pieces that have the innate power to move the listener and directly invoke emotional reactions. It requires an even higher skill level to do so in more confined periods of time without the luxury of including extended build-ups or complex movements to help spell it all out. With Shutter Release (released November 3 on Mush Records), Lymbyc Systym has further excelled in the fine and difficult art of first making a massively rich work with hearty nuggets of content, and then drastically condensing it down to a lighter, easily edible, more tangible substance packed with a serious and surprising punch.
To load up these neatly wrapped, deceptively small packages, brothers Jared and Mike Bell toned down the glitchy bits and drum machine beats that sprouted on Love Your Abuser and fully flowered with the help of others on its remix album (read JamBase review here). In exchange, they resort to a slew of more traditional instrumentation, switching over to more basic drumbeats from a kit, a heavy reliance on guitar-based melodies, and some random-but-enhancing additions from the dobro, accordion, and even some orchestral strings. Despite this shift of elemental focus, however, nothing of the Lymbyc sound and its enlivening effect is lost. As paragons of balance and distribution, they retain the crisp bells and lighthearted keys inherent to them, mixing them with the other pieces to create their patented product - subtle reflections that escalate smoothly, shift unexpectedly, summit unexpectedly, and always leave an indelible imprint on the subject. And on Shutter Release, they manage to do it in half the time with double the impact. - Jambase |
