It seems that the electronic music tree has, in the last few years, produced a much more minimalistic and slower branch than what the genre is usually known for.
Those who brought on the ‘chillwave’ movement such as Baths, Washed Out, and Toro Y Moi, as well as fresher Australian acts such as Flume and Chet Faker have undoubtedly made this branch more solid as time goes by, but with an ever expanding genre, it’s up to new guys such as This Mess to develop its sound – something they’ve done quite well with their debut self-titled EP by mashing up acoustics and electronics head on.
Rather than having a wide array of sounds and instruments, the Wollongong duo have taken the route of maximizing the utility of just a few core instruments – these being singer Tace Mcnamara’s wonderful vocals, and a small range of synthesizers, guitars and percussion sounds generated by instrumentalist Jim Wilson.
Each song follows a very simple structure, usually directed by a central guitar riff or chord progression throughout the track. While this means there’s an overall lack of diversity within songs, it allows for much more.
Passionate guitar solos such as in “Interlude”, vocal sampling such as in “Castles” and solid vocals such as in “The Worst Me”.
All in all, the production quality is wonderful for a self-produced and self-mixed release, and it’ll no doubt take a while for fans tire of playing the record through from start to finish.
