Review: Cabin Fever by Elektragaaz

There are times when a piece of music starts and you can almost instantly tell that the artist behind it is entirely comfortable in their own creative mind, and this is certainly the feeling I get from Elektragaaz and their latest single Cabin Fever. A global collective, with many members based in New York City, they are led by anonymous composer and producer Poppo Redband whose musical visions meld together numerous genres and styles with complete ease, creating a sound which feels simultaneously familiar and utterly original.

Cabin Fever is taken from the EP The Synaesthetic Picture Show Now Playing Part 1, a record which you can tell just from it's title is going to be highly ambitious musically. The track is something of a headrush with so much to take in as it meshes together seemingly disparate elements from electro-pop, funk, prog rock, neo-classical, and salsa with a certain enigmatic quality. There's no vocals, which means the listener's focus can be drawn entirely into the different instrumental elements, all of which are mixed together superbly well with nothing overpowering anything else any more than is necessary. The funky bassline and thumping beat provide an immutable backing to the layers of King Crimson-esque guitars, electro synths, mambo style idiophones and delightful string arrangements. These elements seem to constantly be fighting for attention yet, from within this whirlwind of sonic energy appears a strange but completely joyous atmospheric harmony.

The track is also accompanied by a video, featuring dancer Laura Aronoff twisting and turning her way through the track within a darkly lit and graffiti covered old building. For a song with such complex and layered instrumental elements, it's highly impressive how she manages to translate it into body movements. In doing so, the track is given an extra dimension, allowing the emotive and human side of this composition to appear outside of the alien nature of it's sonic material.

Cabin Fever is a track of exceptional musical depth, and while it may take a few listens to truly get your head around, it is very much worth the effort. As a first introduction to Elektragaaz it is quite brilliant, only making me want to delve further into their EP and discover what other sonic delights they have conjured up. Elektragaaz have seemingly managed to hit upon that impressive musical ideal of creating something original without having to invent an entirely new sound.

You can watch the video for Cabin Fever on Youtube

You can find out and hear more from Elektragaaz on Songwhip, Soundcloud and Spotify

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