aaamusic | On 27, Dec 2013

Slack  Armada is a solo project of James Hrabak – multi-instrumentalist based in Chicago. James started his music career in shoegaze and noise-rock but the inspirational drive for his brand-new music was found in the acts like Boards of Canada and Mogwai. The result of his music independence and original sonic view is represented in Slack Armada EP. Here we find shoegaze approach to post-rock with a reasonable dose of addiction to some extraterrestrial sounds.

Hrabak sees this EP as a foundation for the further projects  that will include vocal music. James develops this project in frames of experimental yet diverse music. The EP consists of four tracks which conceptually differ a lot from one another.

The opening track – ‘Rebirth’ is an atmospheric  space-rock piece with ethereal backgrounds soon after transforming into expressive guitar chords. It appears to be as mild and at the same time as powerful as pure summer raindrops. ‘Your Majesty’ is an underground ode to something no one can ever reach. Some angelic noises are following the flood of this track contributing to its alien sound.

The most loud and energetic track on the Slack Armada EP is ‘Looper’. Buzzing guitars interfere with the strict rhythm line and versatile background structures. ‘Escape Velocity’ consists of looped industrial lines and hesitating rhythm. Then there come the amplified synthetic noises once again and we are thrown into a mess of unexplored spaces.

According to James, the absence of any vocals on this EP serves no concept. It just gives a path to music to speak with no prompts from the vocals and lyrics. Slack  Armada is a challenging combination of shoegaze and electronic music with original transcendent surroundings.

★★★★★

Agnessa Yermakova