Stray - Letting Go

Erika Dunham is far most known for her Aggrotech project Unter Null, but here we find her in a brand new outfit with her new side project Stray. The new project is much more calm, ethereal, ambient and darker than Unter Null, but also filled with so much more soul and impresses me, binds me even, a million times more than Unter Null ever did. By Erika's newly chosen path, 'Letting Go' is probably one of the most surprising releases of 2012.

After a beautiful 6 minute instrumental intro called "Surround Me To Passage D", where the piano is the star of the show, the amazing track "Remember Me" really drops your pants. Erika's project really speaks to me, it's simply beautifully composed and put together. In one of my favorite tracks "Out of Place", Erika sings "But the people that despise me never look beyond my face, and it truly hurts my heart and soul...", but she do not need to worry about that this time, here emotions and feelings really come through forcefully enough for you to be unable to ignore it.

Every single track has a story to tell and none falls short. It's an organic album that has taken the shape of ivy, twisted and entangled together into something living. Almost every track borders on 6 minute playtime, but never feel like it's being dragged out to fill minutes, Erika simply have things to say.

The only thing I would like to reshape is the overuse of auto tune, perhaps Erika's voice can't keep it up and that is needed, and it sounds cool every now and then, but here, I think it's a bit too over used.

The dark synthpop that is Stray might not suit the Unter Null or harsher EBM fans, but I'm surely spellbound and left only with surprised admiration. Apr 10 2012