SINES’ latest selection of songs is an expansive collection of excellent musical ideas that never veers off from their solid electronic roots. A healthy, 13-song endeavor that never stops being amusing, entertaining, and just plain good.
Gravity is a product of a transatlantic collaboration that sees the producer, DJ, and composer Jason Wann, based in Portland, going hand in hand with the Leeds-based singer and songwriter, visual artist, and director Kitty Richardson. The final result is a perfect marriage between the realms of novelty and adventure of electronica, synth-tronica, and synthwave, and that of singer-songwriter accessibility. The 13 songs on Gravity are wholly electronic, with drum machines, fascinating synths, and buzzing, lively soundscapes, and they are also full of nifty melodies, witty words, and easygoing chord progressions. Perhaps I managed to fall for Gravity because of its aesthetic likeness to a personal favorite of mine, Goldfrapp.
Indeed, the gentle -yet capable- voice of Kitty Richardson stands out similarly to that of Alison Goldfrapp. But while Goldfrapp’s deliveries are airy and sensual, Richardson’s charisma and presence make her deliveries stronger and clearer. Among the album’s finest moments are in fact, the short ‘Prelude’ right at the beginning. With its gorgeous soaring synths and piano line that soon evolves into a throbbing synthwave scene, it is a wonderful, spacy offering that sets the tone for how lively the album about to unfurl is. Fourth and fifth cuts. ‘We Become Electric’ and ‘Self Obsessed’, are a sublime one-two in the album’s first half. Both boast modal compositions that see Richardson’s vocals layered and spun into a complex -but fulfilling- musical tapestry. While the former is an empowering composition about technology, reminding me in a way of the quirkiness of Air’s fantastic ‘10000 Hz Legend’, the latter is a sweet and syrupy synthwave cut that has remorseful melodies and a sensational, melancholic chorus.
With more standout cuts like the grandiose and dramatic ‘Silhouettes’ the cheeky, peppy ‘Girlfriend’, and the acoustic reimagining of ‘Obsessed’ coming in the final place of the album, the album does not give up until its very last song. Displaying in its duration an extremely resourceful musical pair who managed to do something truly outstanding together. For a duo that operates from two opposing sides of the globe, the amount of coordination and dedication it must have taken to finish 13 fully fleshed out pieces of music must have been monumental. And indeed, the results are 13 perfectly enjoyable and lasting musical atmospheres that sound fresh, lively, easy, and again… just plain good.