March 2015 Local Music Reviews

Local Review: Faces In Mountains – Brain Slave EP

Faces In Mountains
Brain Slave EP
Street: 12.10.14 
Faces In Mountains = Lymbyc Systym + Bugfood + Mooninite

Are we more than our minds? Is there a self outside of our self? Or are we slaves to chemical exchanges that reward decisions that increase the likelihood that we get to reproduce or eat, or eat in order to reproduce? Perhaps the song titles (“Oxytocin,” “GABA,” “Glutamate”) and vocal samples of famous psychologists tip their hand too much. Listening beyond the heady considerations that make up this album’s thesis are some really astute electro-acoustic, sample-based tunes that crest on warm, dopamine-rich sine waves of synthesizers, warm guitar tones, dried-birch-brittle snare snaps, skittering drum machines and heavily filtered vocals. These are Nujabes-worshipping, jazz-based samples filtered through a nu New Age panorama and Neo-Soul instrumentals. Utah never ceases to surprise me. –Ryan Hall