Transient Thoughts 013 - R∞ - NeoZen

 

 

In the mid 70’s a band named Queen released an album named A Night at the Opera. I did not hear the album in its entirety until nearly 30 years after its release.  After I did though it quickly became the gold standard for me on how to approach diverse song writing within the context of an album.  

What Queen did there was explore multiple genres throughout the runtime of the album, yet throughout you can still tell that it is the same band.  The songs ebb and flow, weave and bend and remain unpredictable.  Yet through it all the musicianship and quality of the songs remains consistently high.  NeoZen is R∞'s Night at the Opera.

The first two tracks are very much the continuation and refinement of the sound that R∞ has been honing over the past few albums.  A cyberpunk interpretation of vaporwave/dreampunk that took on its own form and became instantly recognizable as his work.  It is after this however where the album truly begins to bloom.

Shadow of Heart, the first time I heard it, made me do a double take and make sure I hadn’t selected another artist by mistake.  The song channels vintage lounge music - simple chord progressions on what sounds like an electric organ.  Smooth basslines, subdued drums, and a chilling female vocalist are all used to compliment the primary chord progression of the organ.  

Despite being as incredibly different as this sounds from the first two tracks, it is still recognizable as R∞’s work.  The production in particular is used to very strong effect to continue the cohesiveness of the album.  It has just a hint of reverb on it and some very subtle effects are used on the instrumentation. This takes the sound of the song from sounding like a 1970’s lounge song to something like you may find in a bar on a distant colony, where AI’s sit next to humanoids and share a drink after a hard day's work.
 
The variation continues from there.  Breath of Cloud channels some drum and bass vibes while still containing that chill and surreal vibe that has been throughout the album.  Memory of Flow does very much the same yet with a hip hop tone to it.  Forever of Silence closes out the album with a strong oriental feel.  Again, nothing sounds out of place here.
 
NeoZen shows R∞ continuing to grow as an artist, and with its release he has elevated himself from being an artist that I take interest in to an artist that I will check out everything released.  I may not like everything that comes out, but due to his newer unpredictable nature I will await each new release with great eagerness.