Ed Wood Jr – The Home Electrical

Electronica | Alternative Rock

65%

In my experience rock music and electronic music rarely work well together towards a greater purpose. There are a few exceptions, like Radiohead or Belwood favourite Jack Garratt, but often it seems like there are two completely different songs playing together, each vying for your attention. This French band however seem to be on the right track. Just from the opening song ‘Medellin’ you get the impression that plenty of time, effort and thought has gone into creating a cohesive and compelling soundscape. Rather than force two disparate elements together, the sound has been built up layer by layer. With the glitchy beats of ‘r:t’, the bombastic drums of ‘Temporary Moving In’, the cascading synths of ‘Outer Space’ and the big riffs of ‘Norman Bates’, The Home Electrical has the best of both worlds.

There are certain aspects that let the equation down, chief of which being the vocals. Their voices are hardly the strongest, and in many instances seem like an afterthought added in the final stages of creation. The band could do with either recruiting a new singer and layering in the vocals to the same standard as the music, or by abandoning vocals completely and pursuing a solely instrumental route. I’d also like to see a bit more experimentation within the music. There are a lot of great ideas here, but the band tend to seize upon them and wear them out rather than develop them and evolve as the song progresses. There is room for improvement, it’s hardly Kid A material, but this is still one of the better examples to be found of this style. If you’re a fan of this kind of musical fusion than this will likely be one of the most interesting releases of the year.