I always maintain that a song is never finished, and anyone can come along and rework it into a new form and create a new chapter for its story through an interesting cover, remixing, or sampling. The affordability and availability of technology means that even grassroots musicians, if they so choose, can completely reinvent their own music, too, should they feel that there is more that could be done with the music. And that is precisely what Vincent Projects has done with 2022’s Press Start album.
The new version of the album is now enhanced, both in the sense that there are now more songs and because he has added musical elements to the existing ones. It is still an album based loosely in an EDM meets experimental, dance-infused indie sound, but this new broader sonic scope makes it even less easily categorizable. But then, aren’t all the best albums?
“Subaquatic” is built on ebbs and flows of sonic tides, moving between a liquid electronic riff and more spacious and serene musical waves, and “Cyclone” is a wonderfully glitchy, robotic soundscape, one that seems almost mechanical in its execution, reminding us of the very early days of synth music.
And then there are new pieces, such as “Blue Sky Breeze,” an ambient drift of dream-pop sound structured by the use of beats and turned into an infectious and accessible alt-pop song through the addition of hazy vocals and the dexterous flow of rap salvos.
Then there is the title track itself, which rounds things off, a forward-thinking, occasionally off-kilter blend of dance and experimentation, the riffs strange and beguiling, and only the pulsing bass beat seems to be stopping everything from falling apart, making it slightly trippy and unsecondguessable.
It’s a long album at 19 tracks, but that allows it to explore the length and breadth of the musical landscape. It is dance music, to a degree, but it certainly has more artistic purpose than merely entertainment or providing the background sounds to just another night out.