REVIEW: Elektragaaz — The Synaesthetic Picture Show Now Playing, Pt. 3 (EP)
Elektragaaz has just released their third EP, “The Synaesthetic Picture Show Now Playing, Pt. 3,” which has been anxiously awaited by fans after Parts 1 and 2 dropped earlier this year. Dreamed up and led by intensely private Frisian composer Poppo Redband, the group is mainly made up of musicians from the New York Metropolitan area. “Pt. 3” is a beautiful collection of songs from front to back, easily drawing the listener in in a matter of seconds. The compositions are immersive and interesting and whisk you away on different journeys. There’s a wonderful cinematic quality to all the tracks, making them endlessly exciting and having you wonder where they will take you next.
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/SynaestheticPictureShow/
Elektragaaz opens their new EP with “Dancing With Evil Intent,” a deliciously sinister song that feels like the opening title track to a great thriller/spy movie. It sounds dangerous, sly, and a little sexy, like a dark trench coat whipping around the corner of a building. The feeling of being followed, but then losing your tail. It’s great “main character” music, and it was an excellent choice to open the album with. The next song that stuck out was the fourth song down, “To Air Is Human.” It has a frantic energy that comes off as high pitched anxiety at first, but then it gives way to a more relaxed sound. The strings really make this particular song come alive, along with the well placed guitar solo.
The last song on “The Synaesthetic Picture Show Now Playing, Pt. 3” is an effortlessly cool, psychedelic rock track, “The Ghost of Ozymandias.” It really pulls the album together, and I love how the guitar seems to wander through the song, the final adventurer left in the Picture Show. It feels different from the other songs, it sounds more classic, but it’s still powerful and conjures up feelings of epicness and some sort of hero’s journey. As soon as it ends, you’ll want to restart the EP again. None of the tracks are long enough to become boring, and yet they manage to pack entire stories into each one.
Poppo Redband, in addition to being a stellar composer, also has an idea for a video game based on Elektragaaz. The band would be a group of superheroes, saving the City of Music with their musical weapons of mass destruction. You can hear the video game/movie soundtrack influence in Elektragaaz’s music, but that’s part of what makes it unique and mesmerizing. There’s so many different genres all blended together into something that really doesn’t sound like anyone else. Sounding truly fresh is no easy feat, but Redband and Elektragaaz make it look instinctive. This could be due to Redband’s actual synaesthesia, which allows him to see music visually as he listens to it. But even so, it’s the musicians he works with as well that bring the whole thing to life and create the incredible auditory experience for us to enjoy. All in all, “The Synaesthetic Picture Show Now Playing, Pt. 3” is definitely a journey worth taking.
Colin Jordan
