Malabimba — Self Titled
For the most part the twenty one tracks are fairly short lasting between just over the minute & half, to the three & a half minute mark. The duos sound is an fairly simplistic & stripped down, and revolves around sometimes funk tinged electric bass, Hammond organ like moody weaves, analogue synth textures, & up- beat to more moody/ stripped percussive matter.
Sadly I found the whole release was a more than a little underwhelming, and this is was down the a few factors. Firstly the bands sound, presets ect stayed fairly similar or samey through-out all of the tracks. Secondly the band are not that great at writing memorable melodies, and they often come out sounding a little clunky.
On the plus side the tracks pace are nicely varied from often quite up beat & rapid, to more moody & dramatic, and from time to time a track melody does mange to lock into your head.
I can certainty praise this project for trying a more stripped down bass 'n' percussive bound take on retro soundtrack, instead of the standard layers & layers of synth/ moogs these type of projects use. But from what’s on display here they still sound a little under formed & demo like…they need to polish & buff-up their sound a little bit more, and give some thought to melody writing