The Crystalline Effect - Anechoic Lock

And, in the second part of my coverage for Blind Mice Productions two debut releases, The Crystalline Effect now sits before the ears of judgment. But, before the music, let's discuss this EP that may have never really existed in the first place. Ever since 2011, this EP was passed between two record labels but finally landed in the hands of Blind Mice. And, since then, the release was renamed, and even given a bit of a face-lift in the tracklist category. Heaping out six lovely electro tracks from the minds behind The Crystalline Effect, Anechoic Lock is here to wrestle you down and loosen you up all at once.

Featuring Pete Crane as the man behind the music and Elenor Rayner as the vocalist, this warm hearted act definitely serves as a counter effort to Mr. Crane's main project and love child, SHIV-R. The EP itself is based around who is generally considered as the world's first computer programmer: Ada Lovelace. And, as such, the first song is directly named right after her.

Ada Makes the Machines Sings hits off with a steady rhythm of electro based music, Rayner's more fun loving, beat following vocals serve well as the electronics play out. Perhaps less looping lyrics would have served well; a few quiet moments for some instrumental work to really settle down in my mind would have been awesome.

A bit harder than the previous track, No Longer Evolving adds some guitar to the whole electro texture that still riveted in this track. I ultimately enjoyed near the end when the synth really kicked in hard, backing the guitar and vocals, as well as all the other instrumentation that went on during this track. Well done.

As Long As You Need kind of followed with another steady electronic beat flowing through; the bass was light, the electronics were tight. I can't really find something to complain about with this track, other than that it needed a bit more of an oomph factor to it to really make me want to love it rather than just like it.

A bit more simple, Core Reaction had a fair EBM beat to it, but the minimalism actually helped out the song quite a bit. The vocals were heard more, and each time they spoke, some keys struck that echoed as they came and went; it added a bit of a mystifying atmosphere to it all. The little electronic notes that also play in gave it a bit of a touchy, but unique feel. I liked this.

Slower paced, with a bit more of an electronic effect on her chords, Broken was enjoyable through and through. Sort of minimal, great piano work coming through, I think that the trip-hop influences show their face in this song more so than others.

And, finally, the last song before the remixes, Anechoic Lock served out a very decent instrumental that kept moving and moving no matter what the case. I think that if this type of instrumental work was more present in the previous songs, than the EP would have been just that much better.

How I Get Out was remixed twice. The first remix that appears was done by Cellmod. Those who love trance should get their asses to this song; it's not lacking in that category by far and served for a difference in energy and light. The Fractured remix of the song focused on some darker electronics that are much more fast paced, and don't focus on drawn out notes; fast and layered works wreck glory to this track.

Blue Sea got a remix from Dave Foreman was a slow moving, somewhat ambient track that had an underlying drone note to it the whole time. Nicely done, but nothing extremely noticeable.

Do Not Open got a remix from TSDF, and this remix hit in with some more electronics that were fast paced, but also served well. Perhaps a bit off balance here and there, but still well done.

Snapping fingers, piano work, and a bit of a trance element hit heavily with the remix of Ada Makes the Machines Sing by Jan Moser. Extremely well done techno-holic track, and something that I would so look forward to listening to again. There was another mix on the album of the same song, which switched it to an extended instrumental version of the song. And, seeing as how I wanted to hear more instrumental work from this song when I listened to the canon song, I absolutely wound up adoring this track.

And, overall, I enjoyed this EP. I'm none too sure if it still resembles the sound that we can expect from future releases from the act, as this has been passed around since 2011, but, for now, we can at least sit back and enjoy it while we wait for another release from this act. Aug 27 2014