Lo-Fiction - When You're Ready

​Lo-Fiction

​When You're Ready
self-released; 2017

​3.8 out of 5

By Dom Eagle

Lo-Fiction, after relocating to the downtown portion of his hometown in Milwaukie, Oregon, he rented out an apartment to focus on a more solidly produced EP. The eight-track album entitled When You’re Ready was put together using old and new samples and records that Lo-Fiction found lying around. According to Lo-Fiction the album is about moving through different stages of life when you’re ready, so the sound shifts and builds. With that context, the album becomes even more enjoyable to listen to.

​When You’re Ready opens with “Heat.” Within seconds of this song beginning, I’m already in love with Lo-Fiction’s sound. The bass is heavenly, warm and inviting. It envelops the listener through a calming, descending chord progression and a chaotic cluster of noise rings out far in the distance. Synthetic sounds jar against one another, distorted and chopped up vocal samples clash against the wall of sound, and everything converges into one piece of music. It’s a meditation soundtrack for the millennial generation.

“4 Years” is a slow club banger. A chugging, choppy drum beat throbs and pulsates ever onwards. Vocal samples reverberate and are lost in amongst the noise once again. Synthetic sounds warble in and out of both audio channels, catapulting the listener into space There’s very little to these songs that could be said to be “human.”

Electronic music can’t just be noise for the sake of noise; there has to be a driving rhythm and captivating sound to it. “4 Years” definitely has that, and it’s rare for electronic music to get me pumped in the way that this track does.

“Travel” is most certainly a journey. A buzzing and warbling synth rhythm drives the song atop a hip-hop-esque beat, alien-esque synths, and occasional record scratches (which would sound outdated and horrible on any other song released in 2017 but somehow sound completely at home within the confines of this track). There’s repetition and consistency to the track, but it does grow and “travel” as the title suggests. New sounds emerge from the depths of nowhere; rising and dissipating synths  find their place amongst the song. Occasional bursts of an electric guitar riff flutter in and out of view, becoming one with the electronic sounds which surround it. 

This track is definitely one of my favorites. The small bass segment towards the close was a catchy ending flourish, and I would have liked that to continue for a little longer, however.“In Orbit” features the rapper Mannovelli. The progression away from instrumental music isn’t jarring or out of place; the hard-hitting vocals of this featured rapper really add another dimension to the punchy hip-hop beat and dark, twisted, haunting synths of Lo-Fiction’s instrumental. This artist really knows how to utilize every element possible within a song.

When You’re Ready is an EP that I certainly wasn’t ready for. If you love well-produced, catchy, and unique electronic music then you’ll love this release. Great stuff.

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