Romantic Psychology 1

Levantis
Technicolour
General | Sep 2016

Reviews

Morgan Brant
Reviewed 2016-09-28
Levantis, Romantic Psychology 1, Technicolour

Levantis = Actress = Darren Cunningham, experimental brit, is back at it again with the black noise. Dark psychic contemplations, full of sound yet devoid of sentiment. At a point, the listener may think "Wow this is depressing" but two minutes later thinks "Wow this is devoid of any human emotion whatsoever". Universally bleak and tortured and apparently minimal, absent any mainstream song structure, this music usually has no beat but sometimes has persistent techno beat. Every song is crushed and vacuous and very echoy and has no words perse. The short ones make solid talk-over tracks and the long ones can be exercises in patience. Whatever mysterious gear Darren Cunningham uses, I want it! - the aesthetic sheen of these songs is enough to warrant a listen. Like all great music, concentrated listening will reward you. No FCCs (no lyrics), but ALL TRACKS END 5-10 SECONDS EARLY

* 01 4:06 Exploding Boxes - low-passed melancholy electrotones wander on slow arhytmic percussion in usual actress style. Ends 7 early
* 02 5:22 Red Blocks - hellish growling drone waits coiled up in a pitchblack cavern of doom. Ends 12 early
03 1:46 Yogurt - think old Nicolas Jaar: almost danceable, dark and gritty, indecipherable vocal soul samples. BPM 81 Ends 7 early
04 1:27 Pieris Rapae - lasers punch through the undead organ/noise mist. Ends 10 early
05 2:09 Undr - hyper dubby idm (it's punny). More accessible. Ends 9 early
* 06 1:28 Stained Glass - experimental-drone electrics over a witch organ. Ends 9 early
07 0:59 Altered Anthem - actress-reminding pipe melody over grit, noise sheets, and vacancy. Ends 8 early.
* 08 3:09 Colour - psychic infant bedroom dream but with demented undertones. Or, a reflection of how a sensory-deprived spider literally thinks. Ends 11 early.
09 1:18 Whispering Sky - slow funk beat compresses processed wind. Ends 7 early.
* 10 9:56 Jamaican Greek Style - An almost-beat plods contentedly until a simple demented melody arrives. The art of this one lives in quasi-subtlety. Ends 6 early
* 11 2:07 Slow Electronic Beat with Colour - accurate title. With a pulse, beckoning, a little cleaner than usual. Ends 3 early. BPM 56

Recent airplay

Jamaican Greek Style
Neural facilitationJul 27, 2017
Colour
The Offbeat GenerationNov 15, 2016
Jamaican Greek Style
deep storageNov 09, 2016
Whispering Sky
deep storageNov 02, 2016
Red Blocks
The Offbeat GenerationNov 01, 2016
Slow Electronic Beat With Colour
All Passion No TechniqueOct 27, 2016

Charting

2016-10-11 — 2016-12-11 Electronic, Classical/Experimental
Week EndingAirplays
Nov 20 1
Nov 13 1
Nov 6 2
Oct 30 2
Oct 23 2

Track listing

1. Exploding Boxes
2. Red Blocks
3. Yogurt
4. Pieris Rapae
5. Undr
6. Stained Glass
7. Altered Anthem
8. Colour
9. Whispering Sky
10. Jamaican Greek Style
11. Slow Electronic Beat With Colour