Artist Chris Taylor is the audacious man behind the musical act known as Body Meat. Starchris is the artist’s third album and arguably stands as their boldest and most experimental yet. Starchris itself seems to be an amalgamation of the last ten years of pop/rap music. This creates a highly concentrated sound that works wonders in some areas and grows slightly confusing in others. At its base, the album’s roots are heavily tied to hyperpop, electronica and trap music.
The first track in Starchris, titled “A Tone in the Dark” is maybe one of the brightest highlights of the album. Starting in the dark, sounds of what feels like an idling car are slowly brought into the track, only to be overtaken by sirens and finally morphed into angelically shimmering stringed instrumentation. This first track has no lyrics, yet it tells a story. What that story telling is, is ultimately up to the audience to decide for themselves. But that open-ended form of sonic world-building is a terrific way to start an album.
Starchris as a whole offers a soundscape heavily leaning towards the hyper-pop genre, yet its vocal style is more akin to something one could expect to hear in a trap album. These vocals are often overlapped onto each other creating an inarguably trippy effect. However, some audiences might be left searching for something more tangible to ground them to the track being listened to, a more structured melody perhaps.
“High Beams” is another highlight of this album, the opening is underwhelming when compared to previous moments in the album so far. But, this opening leads to a complete switch-up around 30 seconds into the track, one that hits the listener across the face with interesting concepts, only to drop them off in a track completely overhauled by an aggressive bass line and trap drums. This was an extremely effective choice as it is sure to leave any listener wondering what the hell just happened, while also feeling happy that it did.
The biggest problem this album has is that its vocals can begin to feel like an afterthought to the tracks’ complex instrumentation. Melodies are far and few between. The vocals are almost poppy to a fault, yet the songs offer quick changes and new ideas seemingly every second. The cutoffs for drum breakdowns come at times in which the song might start to grow dull, keeping the track interesting enough to not want to turn off.
The album continues to reveal its influences as the tracks go on, with Emo and hardcore, as well as trap and electronic. Most of the time this leads to areas of sound that feel slightly familiar but excitingly new. However, the album can be built in other areas, as the lyrics and melody begin to fall.
Most importantly, there is and will continue to be an audience for this style. Its early trap sensibilities will be appreciated by many who give it a listen.
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