Mediocre Robotic Sounds
There is just no shortage of lo-fi electronic indie rock anymore! And Edmonton’s Calvin Love, a young-punk-rocker-in-a-band-turned-synth-solo-pop-musician, is contributing to this saturation. It’s been three years since his last release, and under new Canadian label Arts & Crafts Productions, he’s released his second full-length Super Future.
While Arts & Crafts wrote a pumped up bio of Love and his latest release, peppered with more funky adjectives than a Pitchfork review, it’s mostly false fluff. None of the 10 tracks get overly complicated. “A sight for sore eyes, I’ll fight for your love,” Love meekly professes in opener “Girl” over a few guitar chords and light synth. And follow-up “The Rush” doesn’t stray far from this formula either. “Automaton” carries all those qualities too, except it exerts slightly weirder sounds, perhaps something you’d hear on the dance floor during the disco era.
In fact, “A few guitar chords and quirky sounds” could be the general description for every song. This, perhaps, is why many classify Love as a pop musician rather than a rock musician. It’s all a little too simple, too weak. However, “Creepin” is the second-to-last-track and a nice change compared to the previous tracks. It’s a little more rock and roll, grungier and dirtier.
Right now, indie synth pop is an overcrowded market. Why should you listen to Super Future over something else? There are a few clever lines in there, but otherwise you may want to choose something a little more riveting. Although, we can probably all agree on the fact that Super Future is, at the very least, a cool name for an album.
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