ALBUM REVIEW :: Ben Sauder - "Punctured Electric"
BEN SAUDER - “PUNCTURE ELECTRIC”
Released via Whatever Forever digitally April 3rd, 2020.
album artwork photo by Doug Bybee
“It’s almost like Ben Sauder predicted that we would all be stuck at home. Written by Sauder over the course of 2019, Puncture Electric places you in the exact setting in which it was made, alone at night — drifting to sleep. A large departure from Sauder’s full-band project No Magic, which draws folk-rock inspiration from acts like Fleet Foxes, Puncture Electric paints vivid electronic soundscapes, some ambient and lullaby-esque, others driving and gritty. The album’s 10 tracks were recorded and produced solely by Sauder, and you feel the same sense of isolation along the albums sparse and ambient tracks.
The first two tracks, “A Future to Believe In” and “Ginger Snapped,” ease you into Sauder’s world. The former features repeating and cyclical beat backs long, droning synthesizers, while the latter pushes a more danceable drum beat and playful, syncopated keys. These only last just over a minute before we are pulled into the dark and eerie “Steady Mirrors.”
Puncture Electric constantly pulls the listener back and forth, between ominous nightmares and blissful dreams. “Persimmon Breakfast” puts you in a pleasant space, encouraging the listener to explore its colorful arrangements, while “Dumbo” throws you in and spits you out of a chaotic and cyclical drum beat.
Sauder finishes strong with the two final tracks, “Eno Kitty,” which is a reference to his cat named after the ambient synth pioneer Brian Eno, and “Crunch Beat.” Again, the listener enters a blissful, meditative state during “Eno Kitty,” almost forgetting where they are, and is then bounced around a gritty drum sample backed by lo-fi detuned synthesizers.
At a time where we are all isolated from the outside world, Puncture Electric is the perfect soundtrack for long days alone at home — and empty, sleepless (OR sleep-filled) nights. Pick your poison. Either way, Sauder has mixed an ambient lo-fi concoction even the pickiest sipper would happily guzzle down”
Review by ::
Peter Beatty
Manor Blog Contributor, Momma’s Boy, & R.I.Peter
Manor Records gives 100% of article author rights to Peter Beatty