Extropy - Lethe

Interesting. It was my first thought. Nice. That was my second thought. This is new fresh music. Soft is a good description. I've got a CD with classical music in my collection with so called night music. I think this is the electronic version of that CD.

The people behind Extropy are Jeremiah Savage and Dave Andrus from Dreamscape Unlimited. With manipulated beats, pianos and guitars, both acoustic and electrical they create a soft electro rock a la softer school with smooth songs and a little bit melancholic sound.

I like the first track "Inquisitor" best but I also like songs like "Lacuna" and the untitled track 7. I think they both are worth a further presentation. Track 7 is a song that tells something, but I think it's up to the listener to give the tale a meaning.

"Lacuna" feels progressive; the music evolves all the time. The music is based upon the piano that plays the real melody; the other instruments are just completing the sound with colour and depth. "Laconic" is the song that follows after "Lacuna" and is the second part of a piece of music. It ends the "Lacuna" song.

This is a good record but I think there are some weaknesses, like the song "Anastasis" that feels lifeless. Although I don't think that matters because the rest is good. The layout is a nice 3D-effect of which you can find more on the bands homepage that is a bit hard to understand. Same thing with the small amount of information you find on the CD.

But I got a positive impression of the whole and I still think that this is good night music. Nice and calm.

This review was written 2004 and initially published on Neurozine.com Jan 01 2004