Ela Minus - acts of rebellion (Review)
Ela Minus shows what she's capable of on her debut album...
23rd October 2020
Domino
My Rating:
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8.2
/10
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REVIEW
This album could so easily have fallen into the derivatives of the styles it pulls from, but what's impressive is how Ela Minus is able to push forward in a blended form of clubby electropop and daring deep house.
This album is a soundtrack for change, a call to rebellion as the title suggests, and because of these things it is unsurprisingly and effortlessly anthemic, utilising its minimalist instrumentation effectively so every single sound and instrument has its place. It might be nothing new as a technique, but it remains relatively underused in dance music, another incidence where this album stands out.
However impressive these minimalist dramatic songs are, the album is surprisingly diverse in its range of moods, with certain tracks toning things down to be far more emotive and reflective, showcasing a variety that is exemplified further by the album's almost orchestral sounding interludes, often providing time for experimentation and illustrious, ambrosial sound design that wouldn't make it onto the sensible minimalism of the album's main songs. Whilst not all of these interludes land perhaps as well as they should, most of them feel essential to the tracklist, and the album's overall brief runtime keeps them from being unengaging.
This is narrowly a great album, but I'm confident in saying that Ela is likely to improve on this going forward, particularly if she's able to integrate her experimental side with her minimalist side, and perhaps being more creative with her vocals and vocal production too. Conclusively though, I do thoroughly enjoy this album and I definitely recommend giving this a listen.
TRACK RATINGS (/10)
1. N19 5NF - 7
2. they told us it was hard, but they were wrong. - 9
3. el cielo no es de nadie - 8
4. megapunk - 7
5. pocket piano - n/a
6. dominique - 8
7. let them have the internet - 7
8. tony - 8
9. do whatever you want, all the time. - 7
10. close - 6
BREAKDOWN
Ambition: 8
Atmosphere: 9
Catchiness/Enjoyability: 9
Content/Ideas: 8
Emotion/Engaging: 8
Execution: 9
Production: 8
Structure: 7
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Aesthetic: 9
Lyrics: 7
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Total: 82
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