If you’re looking for ambient drone music, Iglooghost is not
the musician for you. The Irish producer throws more sounds into ten seconds of
a track than most beatsmiths manage to put into a full record. It’s EDM with ADHD
that refuses to sit still and focus, throwing the listener around like a rag
doll from one idea to the next.
The digital mazes making up his debut Neo Wax Bloom borrow elements
of breakcore, garage, trap and footwork – pretty much any EDM genre he can get
his hands on and shoehorn into the mix. These instrumentals are sometimes
topped with sped up grime verses to add to the already dizzying pace. It’s like
a movie chase scene played on fast-forward.
Iglooghost could easily be accused of going too far when it
comes to his complex arrangements. Without repeated beats or even repeated
melodies to give a sense of direction, his tracks can sometimes leave you
feeling lost. Take ‘Super Ink Burst’ as an example, which is a barrage of saxophone
noodling, bowel-stirring bass blasts and distorted vocal samples, with nothing
but recurring textures to keep it coherent.
That said, these tracks aren’t just cluttered noise. Moments
such as the synth twinkles of ‘Bug Thief’ sound absolutely gorgeous even if
there isn’t much repetition to cling onto. ‘Infinite Mint’ meanwhile features breathy
vocals from a guest vocalist named Cuushe adding a human element (even if the
lyrics are largely incomprehensible due to being in another language and digitally
altered).
A large part of what makes Neo Wax Bloom so rewarding is its use of textures. As with the
likes of Sam Gellaitry and SOPHIE, this producer knows how to make each sound sparkle,
clang or boom with the most resonance. His music is much more intricate and
fast-paced than those aforementioned two artists, which helps to give him his
own USP. I feel sometimes he could add more direction to these tracks, but
otherwise they are still wildly exciting and unlike anything else out there.
★★★★☆
TRACK TASTER: