Unisonlab is the project of Swedish musician Jorgen Erixon, Unisonlab have featured on our shows several times, especially our Kraftwerk themed shows, the last Unisonlab album "Electrometric" is a fantastic album, do check that out.
The new album is called "Random Access", which I am delighted to be reviewing.....
The opening "prologue" is a beautiful opening to the album, droning bass sounds and a gorgous melody,a promising start.
"Bit Bucket" has wonderful bass sounds and rhythm and around the minute mark we clearly hear the Kraftwerk influence as the strong ryhythm section kicks in, some lovely sequencers across this track too, vocoded vocals work very well too.
Again, very strong rhythm parts on "Be Right Back Reboot", which also features some nice sequencer parts and pad sounds to add depth to the track, a mid-paced track and I especially like the change in direction after the 2 minute mark, the pad sounds reminded me of Kraftwerk's "Trans Europe Express", a fantastic track.
"Single Box Frame" has a wonderful opening, lots of minimalistic synth sounds that then morphs into dance terrortory, I like the lead synth melody, good use of sequencers and vocoded vocals, I do like that snare drum, another excellent track.
Next we have the track "22nd Century" which opens with fantastic ambient pads that are layered for maximum effect. A kick drum cuts through the pad sounds and we have very effective use of vocoded vocals, the track really comes into its own around 1 minute 50 with the most wonderful melody, which has you hooked, the track builds as it develops, awesome track and a little different to what you might expect from Unisonlab, a track I rate as highly as the song "Stereolab" that featured on the last album.
Following that we have the single "Page In Page Out", which kicks off with superb pad sounds and trademark treated vocals, the pads are punctuated by a minimilastic rhythm pattern and some really cool noises, I like the melody parts, think Kraftwerk's "Computer World" album, all in all a solid track.
The rhythm at the start of "Inside My Computer" reminded me of "Mr X" by Ultravox, strangely the delivery of the vocals also sound similar to those on "Mr X", nice melody parts on this song, I love that snare that kicks in at 1 minute 40 secs, nice pad sounds again, definitely a candidate for best track on the album.
"The Call" is bathed in synthesizer heaven, the neat sequencer parts and some wonderful synth sounds really grab your attention, this is a more upbeat track, I like the vocoded vocals on this track too, another very strong track.
"Pascal's Wager" is a darker sounding track with a throbbing bass-line, erie vocals fit in nicely with the backdrop of sound, again the pad sounds shine and there are once again some well structured sequencer parts.
"Automation Of The Nation", has a bit of a Jean Michel Jarre influence running through it, especially the string and pad sounds and sequenced bass-Line, it is a track with a lot of depth, another massive highlight on this album, a fabulous track.
Oh I do like that sequenced start to "Wall Time", the chugging bass-line and Machine-Pop beat are excellent, more sequencer parts are added as the track develops with a dark sounding vocoded vocal over the top. This is a slow paced track, if you liked the track "Stereolab" (which I do) then you will like this track, it has a similar feel.
The main album is rounded off with "Epilogue", which has some nice pad sounds and gentle melody, very ambient, a track I once again really like.
There's more......
The album features 4 bonus tracks, first up is the "Modulation Remix" of "Page In Page Out", which starts off with more wonderful pad sounds, almost ambient again, the pace picks up as it develops yet still manages to hold the ambient tones, a very impressive remix, I actually prefer this remix of the track over the original version.
Very pleased to see a Maschine Brennt remix on this album, Joacim has remixed "Approximate" and he delivers once again, his strenghts are definitely in the creation of rhythms, the best I have come across, a good solid bass-line, this is a fantastic remix, it packs a punch, I like how he uses melody lines, he uses them sparingly and to good effect.
Unisonlab have remixed "Ton Auf Ton", which has a solid rhythm section, quite minimal but works with the sparseness of the song, haunting vocoded vocals, excellent use of synth sounds, it is quite an interesting track to listen to, especially the lead melody parts, another track I really liked.
The album closes with an old demo version of "Project Echo", always like to hear these type of recordings as it gives you a flavour of the initial ideas for a song. It is quite melodic this one, esquisite pad/string sounds used, it is a mid-paced offering and is a very enjoyable track to listen to especially in its demo form.
Unisonlab have delivered once again with this album with many highlights, the songs are well structured and engaging to listen too, if you like Machine-Pop music then definitely check this album out.
HIGHLIGHTS "Be Right Back Reboot", "22nd Century", "Inside My Computer", "Automation Of The Nation" "Approximate (Maschine Brennt Remix)"
The verdict 9/10
The album is available from Bandcamp:
https://unisonlab.bandcamp.com/album/random-accessUnisonlab on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/unisonlabsounds/
