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organic emptycentury
Artist: Organic
Title: Empty Century
Genre: Post-punk
Release Date: 15th May 2015
Labels: Swiss Dark Nights / Manic Depression Records


Album Review

Organic is a Belgian band created in 2011 by Raphaël Haubourdin (vocals, keyboards and programming, also in Kinex Kinex) and Joris Oster (bass, programming and production, also in Silver Riot). The drummer Olivier Justin is now part of the band. Their first album, ‘Under A Carbon Constellation’, had caused quite a stir in 2012 with its innovative music, combining post-rock, electro, progressive, psyche, stoner, new wave and post-punk: no less! Today, they offer us a sophomore album, ‘Empty Century’, which is simpler, more direct. In an interview, Haubourdin said that the primary purpose of the album is "to make people dance at our concerts." "This is a choice of production: we opted to build tracks so that people can tap their feet. So from the start, we chose lively rhythms, and a more direct approach."

The result is impressive. The majority of the tracks are real bombs. Of course, we still have the fundamentals of Organic: a staccato bass (Peter Hook is not far), powerful drums, bouncy vintage synths and the typical baritone voice of Haubourdin. But the difference here lies in the structures of the compositions, which are more “classic”, with intro, verse, bridge and chorus. The musical style is a sort of power electro-rock with post-punk and stoner tinges, to be classified between Joy Division, New Order, Editors, Nine Inch Nails and Queens Of The Stone Age. The first promo-single, ‘Alyss’, evokes the legendary group The Chameleons and displays a more assertive post-punk side. ‘Hyperbola’ hints more at Interpol. With its riffs and its "oh oh", it is also a potential radio hit. I particularly like the second verse: it offers a very “dream-wave”, psychedelic atmosphere. I wish they would build a complete composition on the basis of this sublime passage.

After ‘Position’, a very Reznor-esque explosive track, you get ‘Moneytron’, which fascinates with its robotic rhythm, its Mellotron layers and its epic chorus. ‘Rip Me’ is a “rework” of a song from Agent Side Grinder, the Swedish group well known in the dark post-punk / wave circles. From the original track, they only kept Kristoffer Grip's voice and around it, our friends built arrangements that are 100% Organic. That's why it's not a remix, but a “rework”, a bit like what Trentemøller usually does. Finally, the last title somehow revives the post-rock / prog style of their first album. It is a long twelve minutes track divided into three parts: a fairly classic song, a post-metal bass solo interlude and a psychedelic and even tribal final, crossed by a hypnotic incantation. As if the group allowed us to glimpse into an ideal world, illuminated by light.

In a nutshell, Organic confirms its enormous potential here and I wouldn't be surprised if this album achieved international success. Two labels will publish ‘Empty Century’: Manic Depression Records, a French label, will release the album on vinyl and SwissDarkNights will take care of the CD and of the Bandcamp digital version. Note also the beautiful cover, perfectly in line with the "organic" and "oceanic" themes of the first LP. After the yeti crab, that graced the cover of "Under A Carbon Constellation", here's a superb photographic composition of a man holding a jellyfish as a kite, a very “Floydian” image from Gurbir Grewal.

Listen to ‘Empty Century’ here: https://swissdarknights.bandcamp.com/album/empty-century
To pre-order the CD here: https://swissdarknights.bandcamp.com/album/empty-century
The vinyl will be released at the end of May. To be informed, follow ORGANIC on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/newwavestoner


Tracklist

01. Police Station
02. My Own Grey
03. Let's Carry On
04. Alyss
05. Hyperbola
06. Position
07. Moneytron
08. Rip Me
09. Mystical Color


Line-up

Raphaël Haubourdin
Joris Oster
Olivier Justin


Websites

https://www.facebook.com/newwavestoner


Cover Picture

organic emptycentury


Rating

Music: 9
Sound: 9
Total: 9 / 10



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