WSTLND
Future Archive, 2019
8/10
CNJR bring plenty of creative post-rock ideas to their sonic palette on this debut album, where IDM, darkwave, synthwave, downtempo and indie-tronica all reside in very compelling and sometimes mystifying ways.
“INT’ starts the listen with a haunting cinematic quality with sci-fi noises, before “HRS” brings in a spacey dance track with vocals from Lucie Hamzova. Elsewhere, “PPS” yields a futuristic and moody journey of winding energy and fuzzy melody, while “GRN” reels in darker textures that are almost post-punk influenced.
The back half of the listen offers the dark, apocalyptic setting of “MSI”, the multifaceted landscape of “GSI”, and one of the album’s best, the beat heavy and pulsating energy of “NST”. The curious albums ends on the extremely adventurous and eerie yet exhilarating “PNK”.
In a time when so much electronic music finds itself settling into mundanity, WSTLND forges new paths with both stuck in the past and ahead of its time qualities that are emotional- sometimes cathartic- and never short on complicated interplay and strategic minimalism while painting an electro/analog portrait of undeniably exciting art.
Travels well with: Kraftwerk- Computer World; Son Lux- Brighter Wounds