Hollon and Mozgawa aren’t necessarily reinventing genre per se so much as giving new elasticity to what is often a bright, beautifully fussy tableau of motifs executed with panache and charm that’s impossible to resist.
A bright, beautifully fussy tableau of motifs
Stylistically, it appears an incongruous proposal on paper, but the duo of Bryan Hollon (aka Boom Bip, plus half of synth-poppers Neon Neon) and drummer Stella Mozgawa (of alt.rock band Warpaint, among others) are a match made in IDM heaven. Their debut as Belief, for the diverse LA imprint Lex Records, will in fact keep you not only spiritually humble, but guarantee you remain a true (ahem) believer in not just the efficacy of this pair’s work and future, but of the whole damn electronica genre overall.
Music writers tend to bandy about terms like ‘infectious’ with relative impunity (and no small measure of laziness), but this stuff will get into your pores and psyche with viral ferocity. Hollon and Mozgawa aren’t necessarily reinventing genre per se so much as giving new elasticity to what is often a bright, beautifully fussy tableau of motifs executed with panache and charm that’s impossible to resist. The pieces benefit from a true economy of means, reflective of what some of their 90s ancestors practiced and preached (think Bigeneric, Joseph Auer, Metamatics), traveling predetermined narrative arcs that elegantly state their purpose and cease, though not without leaving the most embossed of aural footprints on the cochlea.
The squelch ’n’ roll of “Bayo” recombines the DNA of smoky club acid into a sumptuous bit of pre-dawn millennial tension that revels in its widescreen majesty. “Luther” seeks to up the ante as Mozgawa’s drums (or drum programming) are fleet enough to provide some supple rack and pinion for Hollon’s synthetic choruses rushing to greet their pad-docks. The near six minutes of “Nebo,” the disc’s longest piece, benefits from a squiggly bass line over which the pair paint Drexciya/B12-like mangascapes, fomenting an entire ecosystem of sonic rabbit-holes to eagerly plunge into. Whatever futuristic LA portraiture is hanging in Hollon and Mozgawa’s studio must act as imagistic influencers, as the percolating forward thrust and bobbing weave of “Ulu” so wonderfully magnifies, synths illuminating glassine horizons and reflections off wet asphalt like renegade soundbytes from a Michael Mann flick.
Belief aren’t only that rare beast—bleary-eyed West Coast US IDMers with more tricks up their sleeves than their European counterparts—they’ve birthed into our little corner of the universe a recording mature enough to make their well-worn forebears sit up and take notice. One of this year’s finest models—pray they continue.
Belief is available on Lex. [Bandcamp | Site]
