Gary War emerged from the muck of countless synthesizers in 2007. Since then, he’s been releasing a decent, though not massive, amount of music. This EP happens to be one of my more liked projects of his. Here he appears to hone his craft even further.
I remember when I was first listening to “Born of Light” I was walking through various subway tunnels. As the song’s quiet introduction exploded into a futuristic pop, I thought it was the perfect thing to hear as I passed by countless underground lights. Easily this is the best song on the entire EP; it just seems to be his mission statement. The vocals are thin, the sound dramatic. Out of all the songs, this one I hope represents what his future development might be.
Actually a lot of the EP sounds fairly dramatic. Whether or not this is a conscious effort on his part, I’m not sure. By having a focus on more emotional content rather than pure gear worship, he’s able to avoid a lot of the criticism thrown at countless other lo-fi electro artists.
“Grounds for Termination” and “Who and Why” bring to mind the best of early Ariel Pink material. I mean that as the most sincere compliment. While “Grounds for Termination” has this wonderful chugging pace, “Who and Why” feels like I can hear Ariel’s “West Coast Calamities” bleeding through the murk.
30 minutes means it’s a fairly long EP but it breezes by quickly. Give it a few listens; it takes some time to get acquainted with Gary’s odd sonic universe. The effort is worth it.