Available on: Friends of Friends LP
When Groundislava opens his self-titled debut with a song titled ‘Pregaming The Rapture’, it would be easy to dismiss the next hour as one of those dime-a-dozen bleeps & beats video game albums that are cropping up all over. However, Jasper Patterson proves himself to be a much more complex and thoughtful producer than most. It’s all too easy to go for the brash and bright with modern electronic music, where the instruments are full of filters and knobs and buttons just begging to be demolished. The harder route is to genuinely express feeling and depth through restraint. This is where Patterson excels.
‘Pregaming the Future’ powers up with a cavalcade of stuttering 8-bit notes, but soon evolves into a multi-layered theme song that could be successfully soundtracking the next science fiction epic. Gentle keys dominate ‘Final Impasse’ with waves of yearning and it’s here that Patterson’s real talent lies: an ability to imbue the artificial textures of synthetic sounds with real emotion. If it wasn’t for the trills of percussion punctuating each section, one could almost imagine listening to a symphony here. It’s not all hip-hop and chiptune here, though, as Patterson’s passion for techno rears up on ‘The Dig’ and ‘Stealth River Mission’, two songs that showcase his knack for emotive melodies over pulsing four-to-the-floor. Both tracks are fresh and just than a little more than epic in their scope.
‘New Flesh’ and ‘One For Her’ are fronted by similar melodies that weave through and fly over Patterson’s textures, while ‘Shlava’, featuring Shlohmo and Jon Wayne, ups the swagger quotient with more pronounced drums and bravura vocals from Wayne. Speaking of collaborators, there’s no doubt that vocalist Jake Weary is a big inspiration to Patterson, as his unique style appears on three tracks here. ‘Panorama’ is a bass-heavy, swampy background for Weary’s floating choruses and syncopated breaths; his verses drip with a languid indie-rock/blues similar to artists like The Notwist and push the emotion in Patterson’s melodies to the breaking point. ‘Animal’ and ‘Gravity Hoarding’ are similarly earnest, the former a standout in virtuosity; Weary fluctuating between guttural, low whispering and soaring semi-falsetto harmonies, showcasing a range that encompasses not only tone but emotional qualities as well. That quality is what makes Patterson’s electronics and Weary’s singing overlap, a common goal to move the dance floor and the heart in equal measures.
Keith Pishnery
