The Hungry I
Birthday EP
The phrase ‘electronic post-hardcore’ might throw up images of headbanging Goths in a rock club to most. In the case of this EP from The Hungry I, it is slightly misleading as it implies at least a slightly discernable style… and this EP doesn’t have that.
In Jon Stolber’s attempt to be innovative, he has tried to encompass too many different styles within one song, resulting in a disjointed mess of wailing and beats that sound like Moby in some places and Nine Inch Nails in others. In fact, the title track ‘Birthday’ sounds like a five-minute synopsis of an entire Matrix soundtrack album.
The recording quality is such that the lyrics are virtually indistinguishable, but this isn’t so much of a problem as you tend to zone out halfway through the song due to its lack of structure. The thing it does most successfully is to evoke the image of the most miserable ‘Birthday’ ever, but I doubt this was a real goal.
The supporting songs only serve to make me think of the CD as a bad ‘Chilled Ibiza’ compilation with slightly differing instrumentation. The overriding problem of all these songs is the lack of identity: Stolber should either stick to one or two styles or go all out and subscribe to an Avalanches plethora of interwoven modes.
However, even if this music were amazing, this CD would still be overshadowed by the fact that, in his press release, Stolber describes this as an ‘anti-single’ – wouldn’t that be an album, Jon?
Guest article from Heather P.
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