Bioassay - Memoirs Of A Broken Heart

Futurepop may not be what you think of when you hear the name "Bioassay", but be under no illusions.
Quite how it has happened, I don't know, but DJ ::analogue:: has written one of the catchiest, most refined and entertaining albums of the year.

Let's dissect this by taking a look at "To The Other Side" - the track could almost be a New Order track, but with a more modern Edge to it. The track just grows on you before the vocals even start, and it is just truly so catchy.

There is a theme here, of emotions surging, and swinging back and forth from love to hate, regret to pleasure, and It almost seems that I finally understand why the name Bioassay was chosen. The artist is using this medium to expel all of the feelings from his body, and strangely enough, this is perhaps the only time I have welcomed any form of expulsion into my Ears.

The small group of people who have already been exposed to Bioassay cite "Tell me Why" as one of the tracks that should be used as promotion, and I agree wholeheartedly. With soaring intros, and effects that nail the Futurepop sound perfectly, there is a quality here that makes me happily think of XP8, circa 2006.

"Grey Clouds" is a nod to the 8-bit era, and almost sounds like the theme to "Outrun", but it's done with typical ::analogue:: vocals. Holly Jensen contributes some beautiful backing vocals, that give it a Glis-inspired effect.

Essentially, some albums are just great, and you can't really explain why.
This is one of them.

With a list of influences that include Dust of Basement, Covenant, Hocico, Haujobb, Seabound, Aesthetic Perfection and De/Vision, I believe it is only a matter of time until we see Bioassay spoken in the same breath.

"Is it so wrong to feel this way?", ::analogue asks in "Grey Clouds". If it is, I don't want to be right.

Bliss. May 03 2011