Vinyl, Spectre Records, 2006
www.inner-demons.net
Loss is Dan Fox who, in the course of the past couple of years, managed to carve himself something of a cult status in the industrial/power electronics corner of the musical spectrum with releases such as “A Letter That Will Never Be Sent” and the album “I Kill Everything” as well as live performances and also his side-project Fail.
“You Are What Eats You” is his latest offering, an extremely limited 7″ clear vinyl edition, clearly aimed at a market of collectors and completists. Excellent as its contents may be, they also make it one of the most frustrating releases I have ever encountered.
Loss’s music in this 7″ is everything that one would expect from him: intense and emotionally charged with a somewhat epic feel, permeated by an intense melancholy and sense of despair. Both tracks in this 7″ are clear-cut examples of power electronics done right if not superbly, the music being highly immersive and involving. Once the needle hits the vinyl, you feel you’re in for one hell of a ride.
However, half-way it, it all goes amiss. With only two tracks that barely clock at 10 minutes, one is left with a strong impression that there simply isn’t enough music to sate one’s aural appetite. One expects a lot but, despite the extremely high quality, little is delivered in terms of quantity. The prettily-packaged “You Are What Eats You” can easily be described as the biggest, most frustrating, cocktease or coitus interruptus to mind-blowing sex that you’ve ever experienced in your life. That’s how good it is. Or bad, depending on perspective.
And that’s what makes this release, despite its high quality, of interest mostly for fanatic collector completists, everyone else being better served with Loss’ full-length CD and 3″ CD-R releases. Praise-worthy as the contents may be, they will simply not be enough. Hopefully, “You Are What Eats You” is an appetizer for another mind-blowing full-length Loss release.
[8.5/10]
— Miguel de Sousa