Recess
Skrillex
Released by Big Beat Records
For the second time in the past few months, another surprise album dropped. The first was Beyoncé’s back in December 2013, but Skrillex surprised fans with his latest album, Recess, which he released March 10.
Sonny John Moore, who goes by his stage name Skrillex, dabbles in several genres including dub step, electro house, and post-hard core music. The American born singer-songwriter has been the recipient of six Grammy Awards in the past two years.
The initial track, “All Is Fair in Love and Brostep,” is an eclectic collection of spoken sound bytes about science and space combined with a traditional opening for an electro track.
Though the first number was slightly underwhelming, the album picked up with the title track “Recess,” which featured a curious but not unwelcome addition of what sounded like pan pipes accompanied by a well-timed beat drop.
“Stranger” had an interesting quality that lent the music a royal tone suitable for a throne room audience.
“Coast is Clear” began with piano which was unexpected but provided an almost jazzy, smoky sense to the melody. The progression to the rapping and singing was smooth. It was an engaging mesh of different genres though it was not a personal favourite of mine.
“Ragga Bomb” had a reggae energy to it that engaged with a solid, steady beat which coincided with another strong beat drop. The only odd part is the childlike intonation of “Pop, pop!” which occurs randomly throughout the song.
“Doompy Poomp” is reminiscent of the opening of an indie film—a little difficult to identify and slightly lost. It sounds as if a television kept cutting out during the recording of the song. The effect becomes significantly more sinister and disquieting as the track progresses. The saving grace was a synthesizer that emulated the sound of a trumpet though just a bit higher in pitch.
“Ease My Mind,” my personal favourite track on the album, began oddly with a noise like dog panting. Despite that inauspicious start the first note of vocals cut straight to my core. It was slightly unnerving how clear and controlled the voice was compared to the other numbers.
On the whole, I found the album appealing though not as rebellious as I expected it to be. If you enjoyed Skrillex’s other albums, Recess will most likely deliver.
