Eyeshock Swelter

Vaporwave have you heard of it? Well if you haven't now you have. It has been described as “post-elevator music” and relies on manipulating sound and creating 80s lounge type setting with experimental white noise and smooth jazz. Eyeshock Swelter is a two-piece band that calls themselves Captain T.V. and What Nerve who released Tamarind Swelter and create this type of music. My first impression – it’s really good.

It could be called experimental but is also original in the way it captures and manipulates sound. Take for instance the second track “Serving/Ghosts” where the vocals are severely wet with a phase effect as waves and pulses surround the frequency spectrum. The song transitions into a second half where the vocals are submerged and detuned underneath beds of dissonance and white noise. What is most appealing about this track is that it is actually quite poppy as weird as that sounds. They do a great job at creating an experimental framework that contains infectious melodies buried underneath.

Album opener “///|/Rec|:ne/////” is slow-moving piece and this is where the part about elevator music and jazz comes in. It feels like elevator music you might hear if you were dreaming. It doesn't feel real at times and contorts according to its own physics. “Wōkòu” has some of the most energy of the album and I would not call this any type of elevator music. The song has a pretty aggressive drum beat and shrieking delayed guitar parts that bring you into a psychedelic realm.

” ||LÆCEƧ:系 花]” takes sine waves and makes a warm-sounding piece that is completely different than the high end shrill of “Wōkòu.” It’s a little bit too different of a contrast. I wish that they had aligned the frequencies a bit more to make the transition a bit more seamless. ”Adriatic” is the closer and sounds like you are walking with elves in their crystal palace.

Tamarind Swelter is an ambitious project that introduces original concepts that are quite attractive to those who aren't afraid of something a bit experimental. There is still a lot of refining to do but they may be onto something here. - The Equal Ground