I love music. I love when two obscure artists with different styles collaborate. I love this EP, which is only two songs (which to me is single territory, but whatever.) I know that most reviews are for albums instead of something this short, but I don’t care. It’s good.
Both artists do strange, ethereal atmospheres, but the execution is very different. Outback leans more into the EDM sphere, most often breaks-adjacent, while sv1 does glitch with more than occasional trap influence. So: what do these songs actually sound like?
Fizzy Drink is the first song, and is much more on the glitchy, IDM side of things. It’s energetic enough to not be ambient, but the absurd reverb on everything (especially the backing pads) still makes it have the atmospheric feel.
Lathe is the other song, and is more firmly in EDM and even pop territory. It even has actual vocals, a rarity for both of these producers. However, it still keeps the IDM and experimental sound palette, such as high pitched, hollow-sounding synths and weird glitch effects.
Through both these songs, the two musician’s styles combine in a way that is very pleasing to my tastes.
sv1’s signature alien sounds are all over it, produced using the visual programming language Max/MSP instead of a more standard digital audio workshop. All the while, Outback’s EDM background helps keep these effects from becoming all that these songs are, but it doesn’t override them.
The end result is a perfect balance between experimental music and a club banger, done in a way that I haven’t heard anywhere else. If there’s any release that I hope ends up defining at least one other person’s style, it’s this one.
