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Album Review
SEEKAE – +DOME
Seekae
+Dome
[Rice Is Nice]
8/10


With the most popular (well, in certain circles anyway) brand of IDM/glitch/electronica being made by gloom merchants such as Balam Acab and Pantha du Prince (and, to an extent, Holy Other), it’s very nice to hear someone make music in a similar mould that doesn’t rely as heavily on slouching, faux-dramatic R&B beats and breathy vocal samples. Seekae’s brand of ambient pop is crisply produced but heavy on melody and light in outlook where others might crank up the bass and go in for the kill. On their second album, the three Aussies make do without vocal samples (except for on the most generic track of the album, ‘Blood Bank’, and for the singing on the plaintive album closer ‘You’ll’), which leaves enough space for the oddly comforting mix of field recordings, clean electric guitars, drum machines and straightforward bleepy synths. The beats on ‘+Dome’ drop in and out of focus (on the jittery ‘Rock’s Performance’), and there’s even scope for some decent bass grumbling (‘Gnor’). Welcome to the Pleasure (+)Dome.

By Matthias Scherer

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