bdrmm
Microtonic
ROCK ACTION
Blending elements of electronica, dream-pop, and ambient techno akin to Aphex Twin’s Syro, bdrmm explore a spectrum of wave-rippling textures to produce their most electronic-forward, psych-rock-stained album to date in Microtronic. Sedating and understated, the record carries a raw energy that punctures their signature swirling instrumentation and boasts lush soundscapes with complex themes across 10 push-and-pull dance tracks. The constant kinetic energy teeters on claustrophobia at times, but it perfectly fits the bill for that friend-of-a-friend’s afterparty you agreed to attend at the bottom of a bunker somewhere in Bushwick or Shoreditch.
Microtonic delves into themes of modern dystopia, spiraling into a brute nihilism capsized when the band’s pessimistic personal reflection is reached on the profound “Snares” (“The time that we’ve forgotten / Has been warped, broken and taken away”). Operating within this ethereal hypnosis, the Hull band fully embraces a sound stretched and more refined than ever before. With expansive, driving arrangements, Microtonic captures a deeper sense of intensity within bdrmm’s indie-rock canon. It’s a bit more nuanced and soaring, though still layered with the feathery, synth-washed groove of their 2020 self-titled debut, and it strobes on until listeners are caught in a trance.
As the record tunnels through waves of experimental wormholes that posture like surrealist film scores (“Microtonic”) and heave riotous, ricocheting bass with no abandon (“Lake Disappointment”), daunting emotional themes of dissatisfaction and antagonism rise to the top of all the giddy dance music. “We are on collars and they’ve led us here,” sings guest vocalist Olivesque on “In the Electric Field,” a dark slow-burn of a track highlighting the group’s renounced disposition within a society plagued post-pandemic. “Nihilistic” might be too strong a word, but this is a strong album dusting off an even stronger moral judgement. Distracting us with rapid, externalized joy, bdrmm underpins their sense of despair as they seem to say that there is no alternative to capitalist realism.
Colored darkly by portraits of dissolution and dismay, nailed to the walls of bdrmm’s inner world alongside an Eraserhead poster and a shrine to Mark Fisher, Microtonic introduces the band into an exciting new electronic space, one wretched with shadowy thoughts and a disco ball spinning above a burning room, all while a pounding rhythm gives you something to dance to.
