Often times, the art is not worthy of the artist, often falling victim to style over substance, refusing to sacrifice flashy aesthetics in favor of functionality. But what if it’s possible to reinvent the EDM genre and refuse to be dictated by the flow of popularity and trends? The result is Porter Robinson’s ambitious debut album, “Worlds”.
After months of promotion and anticipation we are now left wondering if Porter’s project has lived up to the hype. The answer is, perhaps, but only just so. The problem with overhyping an album is that the musician often falls flat on his or her face when expectations aren’t met. That’s not the case with Robinson, it’s more of a wobble, a trip on the staircase but for the most part he delivers music with worthwhile substance.
Overall, the album plays like the soundtrack to a video game flowing smoothly for the most part. At it’s best, it seems to fulfill Porter’s goal of “taking you places”, and with the aid of isolation, a pair of ear buds, and some imagination the sensation of soaring through landscapes can be achieved. Unfortunately, at it’s worst, the album becomes almost unbearably cheesy (I’m looking at you “Fellow Feeling”) but this time, unlike most of the songs, it’s the lyrics and vocals that are at fault. It’s campy which means you’ll either love it or hate it.
Every album, no matter how great it may seem, almost always contains some sort of filler and Worlds is no exception. “Natural Light “ is the first that comes to mind, and while it’s not a bad song per se, I can’t see fans, let alone casual listeners coming back to that track often. Worlds could be commended or criticized for evoking a film soundtrack and in cases like these, that’s where it should belong- in the background layered with dialogue until it’s just noise to mask the silence.
Ultimately, does Porter’s ambition pay off? Absolutely, although self-bloated, the music sounds fresh but short of revolutionary although who’s to say good music needs to be? Robinson does not reinvent the “EDM” (gasp, a label?!) wheel, but instead takes the parts that already work and uses it to his advantage. At times it falls danger to becoming “generic” calling to mind various synth-pop bands but Porter has hand crafted the whole package to save it from this- from the vocals ranging from robots to Alice Glass-esque to the lyrics and the abruptly changing melodies- the art has lived up to the artist.
Far from perfect, the record does provide a needed escape from the constant barraging of sledgehammer beats that the electronic music world has thrown at us. It’s a step in the right direction and if this is a glimpse of things to come from Porter, then we are in very good hands. Much like the Vocaloid in “Sad Machine”, “we depend on you.”
