Well, its Monday morning, its cold and grey outside and as I sat down at my desk ready to take on the day, the first music I had to review was the new mini album/EP by Combinator title Re//combinator!
Combinator is the brainchild of foreign born and raised, singing, song writing, multi-instrumentalist bassist, Sean Fairchild. Born in Malaysia, Sean spent years living abroad and developed a keen interest in the shapes and tones of music from Asia, Africa, Europe, and South America. He studied music and ethnomusicology at the University of Washington and bass teaching bass guitar at high school.
Re//combinator is the musicians third album and is a compilation of four original tracks and three remixes of well-known tracks from the 90’s alternative Seattle scene and was released on 17th June 2022.
Fusing electronic beats, industrial percussion and design and groovy synths with funky slap bass, heavy guitars, and catchy melodies, Combinator has managed to create a sound that it unusual, innovative, and totally unique.
With a fuzzy guitar sound and distorted vocals, the album has a very industrial, futuristic vibe to it, showing his great musical and technological knowledge.
One of the things I loved about this album was the use of the bass guitar (I do love a bass guitar!) It is fresh and original to hear the bass being the main instrument and all other sounds and instruments fitting in around it but done in such an effortless manner, the flow of the music being maintained at all times.
“The spirit and ethos of Combinator has always been about oneness, singularity and fusing diverse musical styles into ‘allsomes’!” and this album really has achieved that objective. With jungle, hip-hop, and trance influences, along with rock and electronic dance, shining through, this album not only mixes genres, but it also totally bends them and blurs all lines between them, resulting in a very experimental, psychedelic in places, and progressive bunch of songs.
Multi layers in the music and the vocals means that with each play through the listener is presented with something different and something new. No one could ever get bored listening to this album, and it certainly brightened up my morning!
This album is alternative rock, but something that is more than alternative rock! This album really will reach out to you and pull you in and you haver no choice but to love it!
But don’t take my word for it, go and check it out for yourself 😊
Track Listing:
1 Guest In Your Own Skin
2 Things That Should Be
3 Hide And Seek
4 Cartoon Character Child
5 Respira (Jesse Holt Club Mix)
6 Respira (Jesse Holt Chill Mix)
7 Through The Fog (Chi:Child Mix) (Bonus)
This review is purely the property of The Metal Asylum