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Maybe you think you’ve heard it all. If so, Smomid’s Cyber Solstice will disabuse you of that idea like it did me. I went into this nine-song release expecting techno, pre-programmed instruments, and synthesizers. Check. I didn’t expect the level of musical daring present throughout the release nor the willingness to overturn the listener’s expectations in such a wholesale and comprehensive fashion. The abundant melodies throughout Nick Demopoulos’ writing aren’t trite, but they are direct and never complex for the sake of impressing listeners.
URL: https://smomid.com/
It’s not there on a superficial level, but there’s a definite pop sensibility working its way into some of these songs. There’s also a willingness to juxtapose ultra-modern instrumentation, some of it built by Demopoulos, with traditional instruments that produce truly memorable results. He also isn’t afraid to begin the album on a wholly renegade note.
“Rhythms of Lyfe” doesn’t embrace melody like later pieces. It’s far more strictly ambient in its direction but there’s a clear sense of structure emerging from the piece. I hear something ominous in the piece and, this isn’t intended as a slight, but it’s straining to label it a song. It is a musical piece, but not songcraft in any traditional pop sense of the term.
It’s a bold way to kick off Cyber Solstice. Demopoulos shrewdly steers the album in a more audience-friendly direction with the second track “Geophilia”. I didn’t realize it while giving the cut a first listen, but the second track sets down a template for many of the remaining performances. Melody is king here but isn’t the comforting device listeners may be accustomed to. The technology, synthesizers, sequencers, and so on, have a dehumanizing effect. It isn’t complete, but it’s enough to suggest layers not readily apparent with a first listen. Dig in deeper.
“Adrennachromatica” is some kind of hybrid DIY techno jazz-funk workout. His iconoclastic approach to arranging electronic-flavored music challenges you when its attack mode is like it is here but never breaks off into the incomprehensible. There’s an underlying coherence to everything here. “Inceptionism—” is another high point. The fifth song is, perhaps, its most no-nonsense as Demopoulos pares his arrangements down for a leaner, hardier composition than before, but it spotlights another of the project’s strong suits. Smomid has boundless energy audiences can effortlessly connect with.
I HEART: https://www.iheart.com/artist/smomid-30770296/albums/cyber-solstice-171603391/?autoplay=true
The steadily wired pulse of “Digital Stimulants” bubbles for the entirety of the song without exploding once. It’s an aural snapshot of a mood, an idea given musical form, but it elicits real emotion from me hearing the track. There are many music fans such as myself who would initially dismiss the whole idea of this album but, once you hear it, only the most obstinate would say it doesn’t work. “Remember to Remember” has a structure, like every other song on the release, but it’s cut from a different cloth than even its peers. It percolates and doesn’t get its effects at once – listeners have to be here for the whole song. They should hang for the entire album. There are wonders and moments of great interest throughout the entirety of Smomid’s Cyber Solstice and it holds up under repeated listens.
Jennifer Munoz
