Nerve Exhibit "The Horror of Amusement" CD
[self-released]
Weird, I very rarely have anything of this nature show up in my mailbox. This is a one-man project performing dark and somewhat minimal synth pop styled stuff that's largely electronic but does have a few subtle uses of heavily treated electric guitars (though I imagine those could be generated through synthesizers as well). Expect simple percussive beats with new wave-ish basslines, half-spoken/half-sung vocals that rarely get a little filtered and sort of aggressive, a few samples, etc. It's all laidback and fairly minimal, nothing too poppy though. It's not super upbeat or catchy. "Choke" is a really well written song, it's just got a nice melody to it, a repetitive bassline... I don't know, it's a good atmospheric track. The beat in "Taste for Futility" is more obvious and drum-like, with more overt 80's sounding electronics as well, which I'm not too fond of. However, the instrumental "Warmth" is far more abstract and has somewhat of a dark ambient throb to it, and I fucking love that! It's subtly musical but deals more with low-end drones and shuffling/percussive rhythmic sounds. The vocals in "The Blue Below" are a little annoying (strained sort of out of tune, half-whispered singing) but the music - piano and synthesized basslines/percussion - is absolutely awesome... truly emotional and moving stuff. The recording is great, everything is lush and clear. I wish the tracks were more involved most of the time, as the layering and everything is really straightforward and simplistic, almost overly so, but... at east the techniques used to capture the sounds seem to be in order. The EP comes in a slim cardboard slipcase with a strange photo of waves crashing on the cover and a blurred facial image on the back. Aside from the tracklist and some minimal recording information that's about all there is to see. Honestly my personal taste has a lot to do with this review because I'm generally not too big on this particular style. When done perfectly I can get into it, though at the same time I would wager that true fans of this style would also find the bulk of this EP to be mediocre. Having the last two tracks on a 7" or something could've garnered a high 6/10 from me without question though, and a 7/10 were "The Blue Below" instrumental. So there is a shitload of potential here... I'll leave it at that. (5/10)
Running time - 23:40, Tracks: 5
[Notable tracks: Warmth, The Blue Below]
Nerve Exhibit - http://www.nerve-exhibit.com

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