Release Date: December 3, 2013
Lost Here, Synkro’s third release on Apollo Records,reconciles the cryptic nature of its title with waves of moody electronica that ebb and flow through a sentimental hyperspace, enveloping the listener in a state of lucid dream-like static that tosses and turns with the mood of this latest EP.
Recruiting the smooth, rounded vocal stylings of Robert Manos for the first half of the EP, the Manchester-based DJ grabs firmly the opportunity presented in this two-song collaboration to highlight a contrast between the organic and the mechanical.
Synkro’s vocal-free vacuum of instrumental music (save for some heavily effected and oft-muffled murmurings) allies with Manos’s gentle lull to forge moments in sound that resonate unexpectedly, stitched together from the synthesized whirs, clicks, chirps, and pops that break up and punctuate the ethereal singing.
Conceptually, Lost Here blooms on the title track, as its tone is illustrated in the pinging of looped pleas and queries from Manos: “Catch me when I fall/Move me when I freeze this time/Chasing dragons in my sleep.”
Acknowledgement of deviating from the course, personal awareness of flights of fancy, wishes to be remembered fondly, and hopes for acceptance arise from the meshing of the two artists’ offerings.
“I got lost here,” the singer admits, and the words float away and degrade in a sea of cascading, robotic machinations.
The celestial groove of Synkro’s music juxtaposes with the nostalgic and melancholy lyrics to make the team effort on these first two tracks the standout feature of Lost Here.
“Nights of Pleasure,” the first of two instrumental tracks that make up the latter half of the EP, paints a crystalline backdrop with a twinkling build-up to a hi-hat laden second act.
The composer layers spaced-out samples with labyrinthine percussion to create a sensation of motionless falling that passes the torch to the pulsing beat of closing track “Fading Lights,” which morphs from tribal-sounding polyrhythm to the clean, cold machinery of Synkro’s programmed drum maps.
Alternating between harried, pulse-quickening moments of imminent arrival and tripped out drawls that mosey from one end of ambient atmosphere to the other, Synkro has offered his followers a brief but well-rounded and otherworldly transmission.
Though some of the landscapes navigated over the course of Lost Here tend toward too stark or too busy, this release provides further evidence that Synkro’s style is evolving and his catalog is expanding in ever more interesting ways.
Synkro – Lost Here EP tracklist:
- “Lost Here (feat. Manos)”
- “In My Arms (feat. Manos)”
- “Nights of Pleasure”
- “Fading Lights”
