While multitudes of electronic releases keep pouring into peoples ears these days, it’s sometimes a surprise to hear top-quality material from relatively new artists trying to forge their way into this (rather) large field of players. Spark is well aware of this fact, however. Hailing from Vancouver, Canada and producing delicate digital music at the age of 23, Matt Willox strives at keeping his sound sincere and emotive without meandering into non-rhythmic electrical mayhem. In fact, most of The Robotic Girl Next Door relies on syncopated beats that mold equally around each melody. Snippets of early Autechre influenced grooves make a subtle appearance on Spark’s debut release with Northern California’s fledgling n5MD label.
With a passion for video game systems like Intellivision, Spark displays these sound effects with well crafted rhythms that slowly drift into open spaces. Take, for example, “Choptravel,” its addictive melody-line carves a direct path into the minds ear and creatively maneuvers its way into an atmospheric gel of electricity and classical movements. “Rebound” contains similar ingredients while it injects pulses of snappy beats into a blanket of ambient beauty. While some tracks veer into a more simplistic approach leaning more towards video-game styled effects, tracks like “We Almost Didn’t Make It” and the title track really do make a difference on The Robotic Girl Next Door.
Those of you looking for an intelligently crafted electronic album to relax with might enjoy this debut release on n5MD. Even with its subtle bursts of crunchy electronics, The Robotic Girl Next Door makes for a pleasant listen all the way through. Recommended.
