Entry 004 - Tonebox - Last Encryption

 

 

I have a mixed relationship with this artist and synthwave in general - some material is excellent and other material just is not for me. I bought this on a whim about a year ago and forgot about it. It showed up at my door step yesterday and I decided to give it a few spins today.

This EP is the perfect example of my relationship with Tonebox's music - its a tale of two sides. Side digital skeleton (picture on the center label) is much slower and brooding. Whereas, side digital lady is much more up beat and engaging of the listener.

Side digital skeleton has quite a bit of trap influence and outside of a few select moments generally does not do much for me. The songs are well produced and the sound design is top notch, however the songs just don't have much going on in them. This side has a disproportionate emphasis on the percussion and little else - and in doing so loses my interest about half way through.

Side digital lady has a lot more going on in it. There are simple melodies that play and weave around each other - its much more engaging for the active listener. The songs still maintain that brooding atmosphere that the other side has, but it actually develops the songs and evolves them. The trap influences are also largely dropped on this half of the release.

This is an interesting listen, one that I may come back to sometime in the future - and for at least half of it this is some well done synthwave.