CD, Evolvesingularity, 2004
www.evolvesingularity.org
Extropy is the new project of Jeremiah Savage and Dave Andrus of Dreamscape Unlimited and a bit of a departure from industrial sounds into other musical territories.
“Lethe”, Extropy’s debut album, can be considered as a crossing between Electro-Industrial ballads and Ambient music with a touch of Romanticism. It is a very emotional album, atmospheric and almost oniric. With a feeling of calm and intense melancholy permeating all the tracks, the reason for the album’s name, “Lethe” becomes readily apparent and most adequate.
Musically, this is a very interesting album and hard to describe. A musical hybrid of programmed percussion and fractured beats which are merged with guitars, acoustic and electric, and further entwined with simple piano compositions and sample work to achieve a feeling of crystalline melancholy. The quality of the sound is very good and it seems that no effort was spared in production work.
Lyrically, “Lethe” is definitely above average as well. It’s not easy to write lyrics for melancholic music without them sounding corny, pretentious or both. Extropy’s lyrics, however, seem mature and well-thought out, their content being the musical melancholy of the songs being perfectly translated into verbal form. The voice work is also very good: simple and without exaggerated effects, at times whispered or spoken, at times sung but always seamlessly incorporated into the music adding even more emotional depth to it.
Individually, each track stands perfectly on its own but. Together, they flow like a river, with each track seemingly the natural evolution of the previous, even with clear separations, so that the whole is definitely greater than the sum of the parts. Therefore, it’s very difficult to pick individual tracks that stand out. However, tracks like “Radiomorphology”, “>” and “Anastasis” did capture my attention.
“Lethe” has been playing a lot in my CD player ever since I got it, it’s one of those albums that just won’t let go, sticking to the player like glue. In a way, it’s almost addictive. My only complaint regarding it is that it is too short but it’s definitely one of the best albums I heard this year and I can’t wait to hear what will be the evolution of Extropy.
[9/10]
— Miguel de Sousa