Album Review: Zomby - With Love

Zomby
With Love
Rating: Grrrr

Enigmatic UK producer Zomby rose to prominence off the basis of two records, his 2008 rave-influenced debut Where Were You In 92? and 2011's darker more intimate record Dedication. His latest record, the double-album With Love is a bit of a head scratcher. Over a sprawling 32 tracks, Zomby swings back and forth between rave, drum and bass, minimalist techno, UK bass, and his latest fixation trap music, sometimes flowing into each other breathlessly, other times making jarring transitions and stops that can be frustrating. After 80 minutes, it can be an exhausting experience, and one that doesn't necessarily make a lot of sense, however, somehow it works in an oblique way. With Love is Zomby playing for Zomby and no one else. Whether or not you come along for the ride is obviously not a concern for the producer, as his endless tweets suggest he likes the antagonism his views and music provide.

With Love is a very dark, somber affair, rarely touching the technicolor day-glow rush of his earlier work. Tracks rarely exceed the 3:00 minute mark, most seeming like mere sketches that get their point across then either merge into the next track, fade out, or abruptly end. These are contemplative moments, more suited for the after hours comedown than the euphoria of an evening out. It is difficult album to grab hold of and figure out and, ultimately, it is impossible to figure out. Zomby either refuses to or doesn't care to give you any signposts as to what to do. But this obfuscation actually makes the record a success, at least in my mind. As you listen to these seemingly disparate tracks, it forces your brain to obsess and evaluate these tracks over and over again, finding subtle motifs that pop up again and again, like moving through a vast series of rooms each playing their own theme, and grasping snippets here and there, the overflow washing over you.

Zomby's palate has remained relatively unchanged over his career, preferring to remain beholden to squeltchy analog synths and 8-bit sounds on his more rave inflected tracks, and keeping a fairly minimal tone throughout the record, preferring to stick to two or three elements, letting them rub against each other before moving on to the next moment. Over the first three tracks which blister through in under 6 minutes, Zomby basically addresses his themes succinctly, from the jungle-esque rumble of "As Darkness Falls," two-step anthem "Ascension," and trap influenced "Horrid," showing what interests him at the moment.

His best tracks find him working with subtle, gorgeous melodies that propel the tracks. "Memories" is a stunner, its shuffling beats playing along with the pull of a haunting piano melody as harsher analog synths play with texture and mood. "Overdose" blasts rave synths and lightning quick drum programming against the wall, with echoes of decaying hardware playing like a long lost SOS signal.



"This One" is slinky, bass heavy track that sounds right at home at a sleazy after hours party, while "Vanishment" retains an icy vibe throughout, the sounds of the city and nature attempting to intrude on the journey home.

As the album progresses it gets darker and darker and less uniform. Zomby's forays into trap-influenced tracks finds him shying away from the release found in traditional trap music and has him focusing on its more sinister aspects. From the ink black "Digital Smoke," the lurching ominous strains of "Entropy Sketch," the lonely piano motifs that flow against the clattering trill of "I Saw Golden Light," and the echoing, cavernous black hole of "Sphinx," suggest that in Zomby's world is one that to be lost in is a perilous place.

With Love is too unwieldy and chaotic to be considered a masterpiece, but most likely buried within this sprawl is a brilliant long player. Akin to Aphex Twin's hard drive dump Drukqs, there is a lot of material to sift through, but the sheer quality of most of these tracks makes it impossible to ignore. Perhaps in time, the view of this record will change and it will make more sense in retrospect. With Love is a difficult record to love, a difficult record to listen to at times, but shows Zomby is a producer that can never be trifled with.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and piques one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.