August 26, 2016 / Domino
8.2
(August 30, 2016)
I’ve seen a few people (Pitchfork included) calling this a vaporwave album. I’ve seen others that have been vehemently against that label. Now, I’m no expert, but the way I see it, if you really dig deep you will find that it DOES have some of the major elements of- oh, wait. Silly me! I forgot the most important aspect, which is that I don’t give a shit. It sounds like smoother stuff, sure, and one or two of the tracks are named after games or companies or something like that, but other than that I don’t really hear much of a resemblance between this and albums that I would specifically describe as vaporwave (vapourwave. Whatever). But really, is it that important that an album is EXACTLY the type of genre you want to refer to it as? …Well, yes, actually. Sometimes. I don’t know. Fuck. This album’s more than a little confusing in its concept, but what matters most in my opinion is already there: it’s good. In fact, I’d say it’s great, particularly for a debut electronics album. It’s the solo debut from British electronic musician Joe Williams, known here as Motion Graphics (man, the name, even. Hmm), and it’s not just a great debut, it’s one of the best electronic albums of the year, period.
Let’s talk about the sound of the album, not in terms of what genre it is, but rather what genres it forms itself from. It’s almost a collage of different bits and pieces from different genres; there’s some glitch, some pop, some deep bass that pops in at times, a bit of R&B to be found, some woodwind instruments can be found later in the album, and even some field recordings have been placed in one or two places. Half of the time everything flows smoothly, half of the time it breaks down into some sort of semi-melodic cacophony for a bit, before smoothing things out again and going right back to where it was originally. Williams himself sings on most of the songs, but his lyrics don’t seem to be terribly important; the sound of his voice fits in well enough with the rest of the music. Even in the album’s most chaotic moments there’s usually some soft droning note behind everything, perhaps there for the listener as a means of finding calm even in the album’s more chaotic moments. Despite those moments, it’s definitely an album for a calmer situation; the chaos is somewhat controlled in its sound, perhaps even improvisational at times. I might actually tag a bit of an ambient label on this album as well; looking at other ambient releases from this year, Motion Graphics might be a bit more active, but I get a very similar vibe from this album as I do from this year’s albums by, say, Julianna Barwick or Ian William Craig. It’s all very fascinating; I keep on feeling as though the whole thing’s about to fall apart, even multiple listens later, yet it never does. It feels like it has a lot to say, and it manages to say it all in a calm and content manner. The fact that the album doesn’t even reach the thirty minute mark and yet feels substantial is even more impressive.
The album as a whole really achieves its full effect when listened to as a whole, but it thankfully starts out on a strong individual note with Lense (those British people and their weird, original spellings of words!). Lense is the closest to an ordinary pop song that Motion Graphics, with individual verses with a chorus in between them. The song has a very bubbly intro to it; there’s very high-pitched percussion on every first beat, clouds of fog-like synthesizers pulse in the background, there are even sound effects that come across as sounding like bubbles. As mentioned before, simply hearing Williams’s voice is all that’s really necessary for the song, which is a good thing because most of his lyrics are overtaken by the instrumentals; what can be heard seems to have something to do with the inner structural workings of buildings in the city, and/or viewing them from above (hence the song’s title; in the song itself Williams refers to it as a birds-eye lens). There’s a very low and droning bass during the verses, chorus and most of the instrumental breaks between them. It’s very calming, almost like a city in the later hours of the evening; the music is very dark and subdued at the base, yet there are small but frequent bursts of radiance throughout, sort of like the still-lit windows in the downtown district at night.
A night album is exactly what Motion Graphics’s self-titled debut is. It’s somewhat confusing at times, and if you’re expecting an electronic album with some catchy, get-up-and-move beats, then you’re going to come away disappointed. It’s not the type of album to dance to; in fact, it’s one of those sit-down-and-think experiences, preferably on a city bench somewhere at 10 PM. It shows a lot of promise, as well. I can’t see the harm in Williams sticking to what he’s already proven he does well, but why not take this collage of genres and switch out a few of them with others? The possibilities with doing so are as fascinating as they are endless.
Totally Worth It 