NEW ARTIST FINDS: PSYCHOLOGIST
by Prashant Bajpai
5/15/14
London musicians have a penchant for bold badassery, which is why the British Invasion has never come to a full stop since it began in the ‘60s. It’s only evolved by diversifying from Rock n’ Roll and spilling over into a clusterfuck of eclectic genres. And when they’ve run out of genres, they build themselves a new one. London’s own Iain Woods AKA Psychologist has been busy simultaneously scaring and enamoring audiophiles with a dose of his enigmatic EPs, Waves of OK and Propeller.
Psychologist is the kind of musician your psychologist warned you about because of how adept he is at weaving a dark cacophony of beats in a harsh industrial playground that leaves you in a strange existentially whimsical trance.
Although his first EP proved to be an insightful dark confessional posing as the calm before the storm, his second EP only expands that intrigue further by delving deeper into his style and making music a tad bit more accessible for ambient chillwave fans.
‘Out, Damned Spot!’ inaugurates the trademark WTF-invoking tunes of Psychologist by blending cut-up and spiralling out with thespian strings. For the average Joes and plain Jane fans of the musical wonderland, ‘Propeller’ and ’1:1′ are two tracks that will probably float your boat better than the rest of the highly experimental tracks in Psychologist’s new EP.
Propeller’s dark synth tunes, evocative gospel voices and soul-stripped raw vocals come together to paint an auditory version of Rorschach’s ink blot test that will appeal to each listener in his own way.
On the other hand, ’1:1′ is a track that swerves into a mild electronic pop territory. No, we ain’t talking about Lady Gaga or some other Froot Loops popoganda shit. We’re talking dark pop tunes muscled with interesting piano melodies and rousing danceable beats.
PSYCHOLOGIST - PROPELLER
Like I said, this sequel EP put out by Iain Woods is still a louder calm in the storm before he unleashes his third EP to complete his experimental trilogy. If his new tracks are anywhere near as intricately designed and hypnotically poignant as his previous works, Psychologist is going to take over a lot more eager minds looking for music to contemplate about rather than mindlessly rave to.