Ben Cura’s Modern Life feels like a long, restless walk through a city that never fails to surprise you. But as seen through the lenses of your old camera.
The London based producer delivers an album that plays with contrast. It blends the cold, polished feel of 80s inspired synthwave with the kind of messy, “found sound” rhythms you’d get from tapping on a wooden desk. Between the long, lush pads, you’ll find repetitive playful melodic riffs, the ones that really stick in your mind. And through the album you will drift through huge, beatless soundscapes, only to be pulled back by tight, compressed drum beats and trip hop infused grooves.
The mix of organic, electroacoustic instruments, like felt-dampened piano and bell keys, with the dreaminess of the synths gives the album a unique character. You get those classic, long-release synths that blur the line between a lead melody and a background pad, all built over elegant, simple, and effective chord progressions. And then you may enter in a “glitchy” territory where the beats feel broken and the melodies start to loop and evolve. At times, the drums drop out entirely, leaving you alone with shifting soundscapes that feel utterly cinematic.
What acts as the glue for the project is the way layers are reused across different tracks in creative ways. It’s a clever look at composition, showing how the exact same mid-bass loop can be the heart of an atmospheric, synth-heavy track, but then work perfectly with a live drum beat in a completely different mood. This through-line makes the shifts between organic textures and digital grit feel like part of one unfolding story.
Finally, there is our personal favorite: Upside.
Imagine that pivotal moment in a horror thriller film when the protagonist finally tracks down the killer’s house to save their family, only to realize they’ve walked straight into a trap. There’s a heavy, uneasy atmosphere, like the killer is watching from the shadows, ready to play a twisted game of hide-and-seek, and has just dropped the needle on a vinyl player before cutting the lights. With some nicely chaotic operatic vocals and some saturated overly dark guitars, this is what the protagonist listens to, while approaching the entrance of the house. What come’s next? Not completely clear.
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