IC3PEAK - FALLAL LP
A little over a year after IC3PEAK released their first full-length album, the self-titled IC3PEAK (the digital download is still available on the band’s Bandcamp), the Moscow-based band is back with their second studio album titled FALLAL LP.
The new album, crowdfunded through an Indiegogo campaign will be released in two weeks. As of yesterday, the last day of IC3PEAK’s European tour, the supporters of the campaign got their download codes for the album, and I really gotta say: Great job!
The almost 40 minutes long album contains 11 tracks, which span over a wide range of genres from industrial to witch house and downtempo.
The album opens with a track called ‘Go With The Flow.’ The icy intro features lots of glitch sounds, Nastya’s whispers and nymph-like vocals, and a deep baseline and beat. This cold track gives you the first hint of the icy avalanche of music that is rolling towards you. Two parts of this opener have already been released in the teasers for the upcoming music video. This is one of the two teasers for the video (the other one can be found over here):
‘Go With The Flow’ is followed by the more industrial-heavy ‘Little Bit Here.’ The two-minute track starts with a strongly chopped and screwed part of Nastya singing, followed by a more fathomable second part that perfectly showcases the voice volume of the band’s singer. In the last part of the song, the first two parts join together and a third layer of haunting vocals kicks in. Overall, this track kind of reminded me a little bit of IC3PEAK’s last album’s ‘No Reflection,’ but definitely has a different connotation and note to it.
‘I Swear’ is the third piece on the album. It was already released on Soundcloud, ten months, ago, but still hasn’t lost the cold touch that gives me goosebumps, every time I listen to it. The track is definitely bridging the gap between the very harsh and cold album IC3PEAK and it’s softer and less aggressive, yet very staggering follow-up, FALLAL LP. ‘I Swear’ can still be found on the band’s Soundcloud.
The fourth song ‘BBU’ (which stands for “Beautiful, Beautiful, Ugly”) was, just like the last track, already released via the band’s Soundcloud, a month ago. This track on its own is already a masterpiece; it has calm and soft parts, features a more industrial beat, mixes whispered, high and low vocals and blends everything perfectly together. Again, this song perfectly highlights the strength in Nastya’s voice and how it goes perfectly hand in hand with Nick’s cold beats. This track is definitely my favorite on this album, so far. The song, at some parts, walks the tiny line between scaring the hell out of me and making me feel safe, while being very aggressive at other parts, and again being very soft and warm at yet another one. It definitely serves what the title “Beautiful, Beautiful, Ugly” promised us. ‘BBU’ can be listened to, over here.
‘Try To Be Real’ is another one of the shorter tracks (2:10 minutes) on this album. It kind of gives the feeling of it being an interlude at first, but then again, there is more to this track; this totally beat-less song has the ability to penetrate something inside you. The reverb over the vocals make them almost become a part of the background sounds at some points, while at other parts of the song, the vocals are totally present. Nastya repeating the line “I try, to be real,” gives the song a more and more scary feeling, the more often you listen to it.
The sixth track on the album is the previously released ‘So Safe.’ It was the featured track on the Indiegogo campaign that had started 7 moths, ago. When I first listened to this track on the website of the campaign, I was a little shocked, since this was not what I expected from IC3PEAK. It was way more calm, more settled, way softer than their earlier releases, but I came to realize that this track (and also the ones that followed) might show a change in the direction, the band is exploring, but it does not at all lack any of the strength, the older work of the band has. The song is really calm and there is a definite focus on the lyrics, so that I would almost describe this track as downtempo. I’ve seen a lot of very alternative musicians drift towards more mainstream music, and kinda get lost in it, over the last few years, but I think, even though tracks like ‘So Safe’ are definitely more accessible to listeners of less alternative music, the band has not lost their unique style and the features of their music that make them special.
A little more than halfway though FALLAL LP, I can definitely see a shift in the style, IC3PEAK is pursuing. While most of the tracks on IC3PEAK were very harsh, and the songs on the older EPs were really haunting, due to the underlying beat structure and baselines, this album on the other hand puts the focus more on the vocals, while pulling the harsher parts of the songs back a little bit. This does not mean, the songs on this album are any less atmospheric or haunting! The song just do it in different way.
‘You Think I’m Weak,’ the seventh song on FALLAL LP is a really calm and hypnotic track. Over the biggest part of the track, Nastya just sings over a droney synth and a drum loop, just made out of one kick. This setting is at some points throughout the song joined by a second synth that adds a kind of warm feeling to the background of the track. The vocals of the song, Nastya’s uttering of the same words over and over again (especially in the end of the song) give the track a very hypnotic touch to ‘You Think I’m Weak.’
Track eight is called ‘Touch Me.’ It is another very soft track that is warmer, softer, less aggressive and definitely has that more downtempo feeling to it. The song is very slow and penetrating, the vocals and all the wooden and glassy sounds in the background are really reverb-heavy. Somehow, this song does remind me of some of the works by RnB-singer FKA twigs, especially her earlier works like Papi Pacify.
The next track is a harsher one. The title ‘Dreams’ and the beginning of the song might trick you into thinking, this might be yet another one of the softer songs, but it definitely isn’t. This track is probably the most beat-driven and most aggressive one on the whole album. Even though it is just 1:58 minutes long, it very much could also fit onto the band’s last album IC3PEAK. The whole song get penetrated by a very base-heavy sounds and lots of glitches; just what everybody knows IC3PEAK for.
‘I’m Not Afraid’ is one more of the tracks that differ a lot from the style, we’re used to hear from IC3PEAK. The song uses layers over layers of vocals and thereby has a very unique and special feeling to it. The song is, just as it’s predecessor, very beat-driven at the biggest part, but yet, this beat is totally different from what we heard on any IC3PEAK release, before. ‘I’m not Afraid’ does almost have a post-dubstep-like feeling to it. This track pretty much reminds me of certain parts of James Blake’s Voyeur, with it’s glassy sounds used in it’s beat. With over 5 minutes in length, this is also the longest track on the album.
The last track on FALLAL LP is called ‘Outro (I Let You Go).’ In just a little over two minutes, the band does on this track, kind of achieve the impossible for me. The lightness of the vocals, combined with the string-like synthesizers on this track give it a feeling of drifting right into nothingness; in a good way. The album’s ending definitely leaves you standing in the middle of the rain, craving for more, but still, the beauty of this song also makes you want to press the play button right another time, and start over, listening to the whole album again. I’m really not sure, if I’ve ever heard any song like this, before, neither in electronic music, not in classical music. Yet again, shivers all over my body.
FALLAL LP sent me on a journey. After listening to the whole album for about 15 times in two days, now, I’m still trying to grasp the message of this album. Each song on the 11-track LP has it’s very unique message and feeling to it, that plays an important part in the unity of the whole album and the overall message it’s trying to tell you.
The change in style that IC3PEAK went through, since their self-titled debut album, will definitely be a bit of a problem for some of their fans, as the project’s sound delved into a way warmer, softer and for a lot of people definitely more accessible realm. But for those people, who are open for change and the musical development that each and every artist goes through, will FALLAL LP surely be a masterpiece. IC3PEAK managed to set foot onto many different, by them, preciously unexplored genres, without losing their own identity as a band.
I’m very happy to have supported the band in producing the album through the Indiegogo campaign, since this album (even though I was a little scared of the project’s change in direction) is definitely one of the best things, I’ve listened to, in a while.
The LP will soon be available on IC3PEAK’s Bandcamp page. Until then, please visit IC3PEAK’s Facebook page for more information and the exact release date.