Spoken Forms - Lesser Evils

Released: November 3

Throughout this debut album from this Austin-based electronic act, the propensity for deep throbbing bass is on full display. Much of the influences from downtempo pioneers can be heard here in the lurid tempos and swings of the rhythm, but it is this combination and perfect sonic mixture with the bass lines that make things quite interesting and set the tone. This theme can be heard from the very first track "Cenote," with a deep rumbling sub bass that intermingles with the kick so well. But this is by no means just a beats and bass kind of album. There are plenty of other weird sounds to go around. Spoken Forms has this odd knack for throwing in sounds from seeming random sources - some particularly off putting but also perfectly suited found sounds. 

The aforementioned weird little sounds provide a nice little added touch to the rhythm and bass heavy tracks, notably on "Surrogate" and "Vow," The first of these two actually opens up with the neat little bloop sound that finds itself periodically repeating and sounding almost like its coming from a slowly dying game of Simon.  The second of these two gives us this sweet ear candy in the form of percussive sounds that rings out noisily in a manner akin to someone shattering their alarm clock. The album send us off with "Shadow Gallery," which leans even more heavily into the simple combination of growling sub basses and heavily compressed and saturated percussion while still providing us with more of that found sound goodness.