Crash Coordinates give their songs titles such as ‘A Radiant Composition’ and ‘Beyond These Atlantic Tides’ presumably because they want the listener to expect overblown, self-indulgent epics that are riddled with so much obscure imagery and metaphors, that the listener won’t have a clue what the songs are actually about. Thankfully, although Crash Coordinates do have a tendency to sound clever without actually making a whole lot of sense, they aren’t as pretentious as their choice of titles suggest.
Opening track ‘A Radiant Composition’ skims across an impressive range of musical territory, moving from an expansive-sounding, synth-studded intro, to verses packed with fizzy electro beats and into a surprisingly heavy chorus. The track’s standout moment comes with frontman Chris Kalla bouncing vaguely falsetto vocals off of bursts of harmonious backing vocals, which serves as an immediate route into this difficult song.
‘A Radiant Composition’ really is as complicated as it sounds, but an undercurrent of electro beats runs throughout the song, tying all the sections together and ensuring that it always has that sparky edge that makes you want to work at getting to know its many ins and outs.
Second track ‘Beyond These Atlantic Tides’ doesn’t have that unifying beat, but it does have a towering sing-along chorus that would keep the listener coming back - if it wasn’t played just twice during the song’s four minute running time. ‘Beyond These Atlantic Tides’ is crammed with so many ideas that something has to give, and unfortunately Crash Coordinates choose the song’s biggest hook.
To make matters worse, the two occasions where we do hear the chorus are separated by a long stretch of shunting back and forth, as Crash Coordinates dither over where the song’s going. At first, ‘Beyond These Atlantic Tides’ seems to be winding down with increasingly plodding drumbeats, before briefly picking up the pace, only to slow down again and then, finally, launching into that long-awaited chorus. The sheer randomness completely throws the listener, making it difficult to get an impression of this song as a whole. However, when that huge chorus kicks in, you can forgive them all their wavering - just.
Squeezing in too many ideas and neglecting to develop a song’s strong points is a problem that reoccurs time and time again with this EP. It’s often difficult to focus on the parts that do work, simply because there’s so much going on in each song.
‘She Blinds Me Like Medusa’ seems about to break this pattern by giving the listener that elusively simple, instant-payout chorus they’ve been craving. However, between each chorus and verse Crash Coordinates manage to crowbar in an interlude of sparse, Mediterranean-tinged chords and plodding drums that completely destroys the drama amassed during that exhilarating chorus and damages the overall flow of the song.
There’s pieces of a great song in ‘She Blinds Me Like Medusa.’ Unfortunately, they’re mixed up with an equal amount of pieces that should have been left on the cutting room floor, and these hold the song back.
‘Torino Scale’ sees the return of those harmonious backing vocals that made ‘A Radiant Composition’ a song you want to put the effort into liking. But, once again Crash Coordinates allow their greatest potential hook be squeezed out by ideas that don’t do the rest of the song justice, in particular an horrendous pre-bridge burst of synths that will genuinely make you wonder whether the Cd’s got stuck.
Last track ‘Pompeii’ begins with a tacked-on string section that seems to serve no other purpose than to push the song’s running time past the six minute mark. However, the moment ‘Pompeii’ kicks in in earnest, with crunchy chords gradually building to a brooding, black-hearted high, it’s clear that this song has the definite identity and direction that most of this EP lacks.
When it isn’t messing about with unnecessary strings, ‘Pompeii’ is a tight, subtly menacing slice of experimental rock that really shows what the band could be capable of if they put more effort into streamlining their songs.
Crash Coordinates are able to produce songs that are a subtle blend of contrasting ideas and experimental flourishes, with lyrics that manage to be intellectual without being pretentious, all presented in polished, perfectly executed fashion.
You feel obliged to love everything on this EP because of the obvious talent behind it, but Crash Coordinates have a tendency to cram so much into each song that the listener is left completely overwhelmed. ‘A Radiant Composition,’ ‘Beyond These Atlantic Tides’ and the parts of ‘Pompeii’ that aren’t full of pointless strings showcase Crash Coordinates at their restrained best. The other three songs still have some great moments, but you’ll have to sit through a fair amount of waffle to get to them.
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Crash Coordinates - Ansible (EP)
Re: Crash Coordinates - Ansible (EP)
