Together We Rise – Little Brain (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

I remember the original rise of electronic music. And above the sound of it, at that time, usually just beat-driven tracks emulating dance grooves and classical sweeps, you could hear the gnashing of teeth from the rock fraternity and the tut tut tutting of the naysayers. But we have come a long way since those sonically disillusioned and artistically disenfranchised punks began to turn such technologies to the will, and electronic music has become such a broad genre as to render the term almost meaningless. (After all, would you call rock music merely guitar music?) And within its ranks, today, some of the most original, eclectic, and thought-provoking music is found, music more forward-thinking than any long-haired guitarist or musical traditionalist could have imagined—music like this latest one from Little Brain.

Together We Rise is an intriguing prospect, smooth and seductive when it chooses to be, but also built of abrasive sounds and glitchy structures. It is both dance-fuelled and anthemic, groove-driven and epic in scope.

And if such music has come a long way since those simple but revolutionary sonic breakthroughs, so has the messaging. As Little Brain shows, lyrically, we find ourselves far from those early dance tunes; here, the cry is one of unity rather than escapism, a desire for harmony rather than hedonism.

Yes, electronic music sure has come a long way. Together We Rise is proof of that. And if this four-decade-old genre has enabled us to get to a place where songs like this exist, imagine what it might give us in another generation or two?

https://msha.ke/notlittlebrain#links

https://www.facebook.com/notlittlebrain

https://littlebrain.bandcamp.com/album/not-if-but-when

https://open.spotify.com/artist/4Dowg3m7NvsSM9sBztuZ1r