Brim Liski
Latenight Weeknight Records
3 Stars

With dark synths, melancholy atmospherics and skittering drum machines, Brim Liski is introducing the world to their self-described “dance doom” with their self-titled debut EP.

Taking a cue from synthpop legends like Depeche Mode and New Order, Brim Liski certainly has the “dance” part of the equation locked down. The songs on this EP are swimming in ethereal synthesizers, giving them a distinctly dark, almost nocturnal feeling. The album opener, “Fight,” kicks things off with a moody dance track. The kinetic, almost glitchy drums are surrounded by a swirling vortex of keyboards, giving the song a dream-like quality.

Adding to dreamy atmosphere are the vocals. Faint, and drenched in reverb and delay, the vocals evoke the shimmery shoegaze of My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive. On “Moving Winter” the vocals stay low in the mix, just on the edge of hearing. Rather than trying to convey some sort of message, Brim Liski uses their vocals like any other instrument, with them buried in a way that makes them feel as if they’re floating in the music instead of trying to swim to the surface.

Despite maintaining their dark synthpop/shoegaze hybrid for the bulk of the EP, the album ends on a disappointing note with “Driving.” Divorcing itself from all of the previous synthpop magic, the song lets the album trail off with a sparse track of reverb-filled, lo-fi guitar. While it’s not a bad song on its own, it makes for an anticlimactic conclusion to an otherwise cohesive collection of darkwave worshipping dance music.

As an EP, Brim Liski gives us a slice of what we can expect from a full-length outing from the group, and it’s a very promising slice. While there might not be enough shoegaze on here to draw MBV devotees to the album, this is certainly an easy recommendation for fans of synthpop who might want something a little heavier on the atmosphere. – GREGORY HEANEY

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