Written by Kevin Scott
On this eight-track double EP, Ian Livingstone, the man behind the Canadian electronic project Artifiseer, offers up shimmery synths and distorted drumbeats in a bold experimentation in electro.
The haunting quasi- religious intro to ‘-♦- ΔEmotions -♦- (Intro)’ melds to a more sci-fi sound, giving pause to explore a major human question of where we came from. It's a short, but interesting introduction. The second track, and first outright song, ‘After Dark’ urges the listener not to let go, but of what? The vocal is heavily distorted and warped with a steady if unspectacular electro beat. There's elements of dub step here both in the vocal mix and the percussion. It's all effective in creating an introduction to the Artifiseer project. “All the people I've lost in the past, we are dreamers in the dark", sings Livingstone.
The looped intro and heavier beat to ‘Stop (reprise)’ reveals a grimier sound, with keyboards used to good effect. Vocally, differing voices each find spaces between the music to fill. It's discomforting in places, not all together rhythmic enough to work succinctly. The strength is in the atmosphere created.
This is exemplified in ‘(e)vermore, ne(v)er (a)gai(n)’, which with a more structured vocal creates a soundscape that is more successful because of the desolate atmosphere it creates.
‘◊ Vilis ♥ Amator ◊’ (As a moment of digression, these over-animated titles seems pointless and lessen the expectations of professionalism within the recordings. Which is a shame as the music is accomplished) is a big track, the vocal unrecognisable behind folds of effects. A bass driven track, it's got more going on than some others, but it's on the right side if interesting, moving through electronic stages and more closely harking the earlier ‘Emotions’.
‘うっとりさせる (Uttori sa seru)’ is more of an ambient track, leaning towards Trip-Hop - again unsettling before an almost jazz riff on the piano emerges. The scratches beat behind it builds in layers and produces a different sound to what's gone before. Purely instrumental, it's one of the EP’s highlights.
The album closes with a bookended outro, replicating the intro, more industrial sound
Overall, it's ambitious and that means it’s not always successful. When it is though, it's an absorbing listen with huge subtext to the music, examining our very existence as well as the relationships we maintain within that existence.
