Album Review :: Cymbals - The Age Of Fracture

CYMBALS

The Age Of Fracture

January 27 2014 (Tough Love)

8/10

Words: Alison Mack

Take a work by a band who have created a conceptual album around a Princeton academic's book, and the theory might not sound initially too promising. If you feel before even sticking on the headphones that you're submerged in the deep end already, don't despair, for the London four-piece CYMBALS are actually a refreshing light in digital synth music. Produced by Dreamtrak (Swim Deep, Chad Valley, Hot Chip) in his studio not too far from the band's own Dalston, London base, and having taken the last 12 months in writing, from the opening synth prominent ‘Winter ‘98’ (complete with an ooh-la-la vocal from Jack Cleverly in French), through the electronic synthesised beats on display in ‘You Are’, you can sense the band have worked on the finer details, matured and honed their specific sound to the nth degree. Single releases 'Like An Animal', 'The End' and 'The Natural World', all touching close to seven minutes in length, deliver a modern-day goth disco-esque, others like ‘This City’ and ‘Call Me’ add balance with what are deeper, darker numbers. On 'Erosion' you might feel you can detect a touch of TOY or even New Order in its electro synth rhythm; while elsewhere ‘The 5%’ references the themes of the album's title, and 'Empty Space’, where Cleverly opines, ”Time can be erased, you're stupid if you try and stay in place”, make 'The Age Of Fracture' a bold move in a fragmented space.