Music Review // Luo "Unspoken"

https://luomusic.bandcamp.com/album/unspoken //

This electronic album begins with drums and it's loud.   It reminds me of a video game, a little "Final Fantasy" perhaps.    There are synths and live drum kits which also can bring out some Doctor Who.   The drumming is so wild and then it has those Transformers synth sounds as well.   Looping sirens and then the second song comes in with a purpose, a bit like Rush perhaps.   Horns blare and then electronic drops come in like Phil Collins.   It then kicks back in a bit faster and this one makes me want to drive faster.

The way this kicks in and then pushes on is definitely some kind of cross between a video game and anime soundtrack.   "Septa" continues with these somewhat distorted back and forth synth tones which makes me feel like we've entered a certain level in a video game, though the percussion behind it makes it feel more like a live performance than something which you would find within a computer.

We find ourselves in a somewhat eerie place now, where this can take on a feeling not too unlike The X-Files.   It builds and has that appearance of something even perhaps from the show "Stranger Things".   "Problem Ball" might be about Dragon Ball Z, but it has a lot of trip loops and makes me feel more like we're inside a game such as Resident Evil than any particular anime series. 

We then begin to hear singing for the first time on this album as well, during the song "Problem Ball".    This song really makes me want to watch the original Transformers animated series.   This takes us into "The Gapper", which has these round about beats and loops.   It bursts like the sun but then curls back up and hides itself as well.  It makes me think of some music you'd heard in between shows on Adult Swim.   Dark acoustics then take the lead.   Then it blisters like an electronic swarm.

"Boss Fight" has these synths and drum patterns which create stops and starts.   The title of this track was really my first idea that this could be an album about video games and not just my hearing it as such, as this song does also feel like you're hitting that certain level where things become intense.   There is a slight Double Dragon feel in this song as well, which just really makes it feel like something out of the 1990's and that early time frame from Nintendo.

"Pangolins Pt.1" begins with a certain drive to it, as if we've defeated the boss but now on another level.   It transforms, then can slow down to almost nothing and comeback with this crazy electronic skram part.   By the second part notes are transmitted and then it feels like we just blast off into the sky.

There is a delicate interlude and then we go into a song called "Elegy" which begins with big skip beats.   This song has a destructive quality to it, like things are falling apart, and then it just continues to feel like everything is breaking during the final track.   I can only assume that whatever force has been against us this entire time is finally meeting its end.  Yes, I'd like to play the video game that goes along with this song (assuming they make one) but I also am just happy listening to it and having the images unfold on their own in my mind.