Their entry into the Mush Records family, Ennui return with what you would expect to be a glowing release that sheds continued light on their electronic and guitar pop. The Intro, a warmup, sets the stage to get yourself into a mindset to explore the landscape the band explores. It’s a great set up into “Feel It,” a modest synth pop songs that twinkles like a song off of OMD’s Architecture and Morality does. It’s a great song that does not go out of its way to impress. The song keeps our feet firmly planted on the ground without being obnoxious and is a gorgeous re-introduction to Ennui.
What Jim Doutrich did this time around is lock himself inside his Pittsburgh studio to create this synthesized album of lovely pop digital gems that sparkle in the night sky. Bleeps and bloops dance around your head on “Jump Back,” before taking off into the unknown as each layer peels off a piece of the puzzle and light beams down. With such perfections, it shows off more of Doutrich’s imperfections.
A song like “Turning Point” is electronic bliss. It’s everything you want from a synth-pop song: the disillusionment, the escape, the effects, the realization—Doutrich’s vocal prowess changes dramatically between this and “Jump Back.” The vocal processing does help in this case and the singularity between vocals and music is more streamlined. It’s a level of songsmithing Ennui should be at every time.
So with that, in a nutshell, “Over and Over” is perfect for the palm and laser scene, especially with the Zapp & Roger vocal effects while the mild glitches should not keep you from picking this album up, especially you synth pop fans. - Selective Memory |
1XLP/Not Yet Released