Synkro - Changes

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  • There are giants looming over Changes, the first full-length from Joe McBride's Synkro alias. A diehard of bass music, ambient and downtempo, the Manchester producer has often coasted in the shadows of popular electronic artists. Recent records Acceptance and Transient wore influences Burial and Boards Of Canada like sports jerseys, but McBride still occasionally diverged into jazzy or experimental places. Changes, however, lifts more of the same undeniably familiar sounds and ideas with next to zero inventiveness. It makes for a lazy pastiche, as if references to great music are all an album needs to resonate with listeners. Spotting the soundalikes is so easy it could be a drinking game—by the time "Let Me Go" drops its Burial-lite shuffle, anyone with a bottle of hard stuff might be under the table. There's the wavering Juno tones in "Overture" that are identical to Oneohtrix Point Never's early ambient work (ditto eight-minute closer "Harbour"). There's singer Robert Manos, who seems to be impersonating Junior Boys' Jeremy Greenspan amidst the usual post-dubstep argot on "Shoreline." Two of the most egregious examples, "Holding On" sounds like Holy Other without the rhythmic grace or emotional subtlety, and "Midnight Sun" is a soulless Boards Of Canada imitation that would be inexcusable if it wasn't the record's closest thing to an upbeat track. The rudimental five-chord progression that is "Empty Walls" could also be a welcome change of pace, but I was too busy thinking of all the other songs it reminded me of to appreciate it. And therein lies McBride's downfall: no matter how well-produced or nicely arranged Changes can be, it only asks to be compared to a number of very specific, easily recognizable artists. It's the distraction holding the music back from success on its own terms, trading personality for generic mediocrity. What makes this more perplexing is Akkord, the techno project McBride has with Indigo. Even if the duo's self-titled album wasn't masterfully crafted, it's no less a marvel of precision dance music and flinty soundscapes. Something like "Body Close," on the other hand, is low-rent drama lifted from classic dBridge, with a bland, needless vocal calling out, "This love, this love is getting heavy!" Taking surface issues out of the equation, the fact remains that Changes offers scant movement or scope. Most of McBride's tracks slowly ease into a dour motif and spin the wheels until, well, it's hard to say. The title track finds its endpoint after twice repeating the rise and fall of glitched beats, Basinski-esque string loops and nighttime field recordings. Just before that, "Your Heart" makes a slow, one-time pass through heavy sub-bass, pitched-down vocals and the piano from John Carpenter's Halloween theme. It fades away having revealed nothing of itself or its creator.
  • Tracklist
      01. Overture 02. Shoreline 03. Your Heart 04. Changes 05. Let Me Go 06. Holding On 07. Body Close 08. Empty Walls 09. Midnight Sun 10. Harbour
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