Carried by Waves – Neither, Either, Or

Posted on 20th Jan 12 by Drop-d Collective | 2

Here we have some chillwave from Cork, a short EP called Neither Either Or by Carried By Waves, the third release on their Bandcamp. He is actually somewhat of a vet of the Cork music scene, having played with other more guitar-based acts in various guises in the past, and his latest project takes a spin in the direction of chilled electronica.

The first track, Haphazardly Amorous, opens up on a very characteristic piano arp. This arp continues in some form or another throughout the track, at times veering from melodic to a little more discordant in an attempt to build a varied atmosphere.

When the beat kicks in, you start to hear what the track is about. The beat is somewhat reminiscent of early Aphex Twin but the flow of the track also conjures up memories of 90s Trip Hop such as Lamb(especially their first album which features quite similar beatwork, though this more obviously electronic in sound).

The vocals for me on this track – and on the EP in general are the stand out for me though, and to me are quite unique for this style of music. There’s something chilling about the way the vocals sit in the mix and how they are processed and layered over one another, creating a whispy texture similar to what would normally be done using ambient synths or brightly voiced, modulation heavy guitars. There’s an element of the Chopped and screwed sound in the vocals too in places – this is a chilled out track, but one with a slight edge to it with the fast piano and trippy skippy drums. I could see this act having no problem wandering into IDM territory if they felt so inclined. The structure of this song gives me the impression that Carried By Waves has a strong command over the earlier mentioned flow of their compositions.

The following track, SLOW SURPRISE has a somewhat steadier beat, if this were an album this would be the track that tells you we’re really starting to get into the meat of it. Again, the soft, whispy vocals stand out on this track. To match the steadier beat, there is a notable presence of a droning synth here – the first track felt like it was up on a kind of high, in an excited state; this track is bringing us back down to earth, but with an impending sense of more to come. The vocals on this track(and perhaps the EP in general) sound a little like a “softened round the edges” Ian Brown to me, which is no bad thing, though the vocalist in question may disagree.

On the Bed of The River, the next track, sees a return to the crisper drum sound of the first track, but also features a droning sound like the second(though higher pitched more subdued, helping set the lighter tone of the track). This track is hard to describe, but to me sounds like a “Celebratory Lullaby”. It opens up on a dreamy, droning synth but then quickly becomes dominated by the soft vocals and bell-like lead sounds which are ever so slightly distorted, adding to the overall texture of the track being somehow more dream-like, along the lines of upbeat Shoegaze acts such as Lush. There has been a trend in electronic music lately to build Shoegaze-like textures up with synth and vocals(most notably seen in some “Witch House” acts), and I’m quite fond of this.

That said, I found it to be possibly the weakest of the three tracks as the first two had much thicker atmospheres.

I think that these tracks may have been better used in the context of a larger album. It’s an interesting experience, but when you sit down to listen to Chillwave and the like you generally want to be in for the night. Because of that it’s hard for single tracks to have the same lasting impression as a more up beat genre – you may find them haunting at first but when you have to throw them in a longer playlist where the artist’s style may not necessarily fit the mood, it can detract from the feel. I’d really love to have a couple of hours worth of Carried By Waves to dig into, or just to have lounging around the backround to whatever I’m working on.

I can easily imagine these tracks being thrown on a particularly high-grade Chill-out collection, but it’s hard to tell exactly where they’ll go from here. Their earlier EP01 was quite similar in style, with it’s ambient vocals and chilled beats, though to me had a more intimate and less experimental sound. It’s hard to tell which style I prefer, both are very creative in their own way. Both have an alternative or post rock vibe in places, with the guitar or guitar-like textures used. I would really like to hear a full, complete album and I think it’s artists like Carried by Waves that perhaps emphasise the need to keep the concept of the album; some of their tracks especially on the first EP felt like a journey into a more relaxed mood; something best achieved in the context of a longer and well constructed set of tracks.

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