Balam Acab — Wander Wonder

It’s strange to think that Balam Acab's See Birds Ep released in August last year was Tri Angle records first ever release. Since then the sort of post-dubstep, synth and psychedelic pop influenced music showcased by that release has become the hallmark of the label which has amassed a consistently impressive string of Eps not to mention the full length from How To Dress Well. So it’s safe to say that expectations were high for this record.

The mysterious cover art evokes the allegorical Platonic cave, the light outside of which beckons us to where the warmth of reason and truth await; but it’s a surprisingly familiar sound that greets the ear on Wander Wonder. Opener Welcome (appropriately) is suitably pastoral with recordings of water, choral chants and elegiac strings laid across broken beats recalling the highpoints of his previous EP. Things continue in the same vein with Apart but there is a surprising reliance on the pitch shifted vocal to lead the track across its quasi-romantic landscape, all of which lend the piece a somewhat contrived air. Things don’t improve much with the more conventionally structured tracks Motion, Expect and Now Time, all of which make great use of the now canonical static/glitch distortion as a backdrop to the yearning vocals and strings. The trouble is that where I argued previously in my hauntology primer that the inventive use (or misuse whichever way you wish to construe it) of voice is what characterises the central quality of this kind of music - bringing forth a sense of loss that is not so much melancholic as it is evocative of other paths and potentials - here Balam Acab effectively leaving the voice intact simply warps it into a squeaking cipher the sort of which has become a staple of mainstream pop over the last few years with the near ubiquitous use of auto-tuner.

The disjoining of fixed meaning and revelation of the void through which new significations can emerged is totally absent from Wander Wonder in favour of what sadly could be called cheesy romanticism similar in style to Susumu Yokota circa Symbol; frankly his sound has been Disneyfied. An exception to this rule is the standout track Oh Why which ala Moby imports the old world via a nice crackly sample from some lost 78 record. Some more subtle keys and melodies are a relief on an album that tends towards the overblown, but all this cannot hide the overuse of the vocals yet again.

The last two tracks, in particular Fragile Hope offer an alternative to the preceding material. The track benefits from a more freeform and less forced approach to his sound, and a greater use of space, not to mention some darker melodies. Only on these tracks does Balam Acab strip down the voice to its constituent parts, breaking down the vocals from singer to simply sung. The saccharine grandeur gives way to a more open and ill-defined signification the likes of which made See Birds so interesting. It’s not pop when gratification is withheld and that’s what all the best “pop” should do, leave you at the edge of the place where gratification should appear, deferring it until next time. On See Birds Balam Acab had this mastered but on this record he has tried too hard to fill the gap to give you the sweet satisfaction that his previous work only hinted at; unfortunately the taste is a little too sickly sweet.