The Bread Scientists - Amidst Radiances
The Bread Scientists, led by Jacob Paddison, is a hybrid electronic rock band from NSW, Australia. His album, Amidst Radiances, does an admirable job at expanding upon the dnb format, by introducing much needed textural variation to the genre.
Many ideas are quite immaculately strung together through the four main pieces. While there is a coherent flow throughout the entire album, there’s hardly a common theme. This is not to fault the album, though, as the rich blend of glitch hip-hop, shoegaze, industrial dnb and indie rock is quite commendable. The album begins with its strongest track, Akashic, which explores cryptic and malignant soundscapes, while also simultaneously being iridescently captivating. The track utilises reverse sampling to an auditory delight. Similarly, Aphelion boasts some great synthetic work. Some of the composition is straightforward (the slowed down sections are tacky), but the texture work is vibrant and stunning. Ideas are brought forward, but rarely expanded upon, such as the ravishing guitar beyond the halfway mark. Ataraxia once again slows down the pitch, though its second half offers beautiful textures that blur the line between stoner rock and glitch hip-hop; some of the best textures of Paddison’s career. The only dud in the track-listing is Azimuth, which is mostly plain and uneventful, until its frantic, animated dubstep section and tacky synthy outro.
Amidst Radiances is an inconsistent album, though demonstrates an undeniable amount of potential. There’s very little variation in the composition department; had the album taken more risks to its song structures, it most likely would have soared much further. Instead, the album hazily switches between ideas; sections that otherwise would have greatly benefited from being expanded upon. Nonetheless, the album works quite well, and demonstrates excellent production strengths. Here’s hoping The Bread Scientists can keep his textural work as consistent on subsequent releases.
Above Average
Listen to it here:
The Bread Scientists - Amidst Radiances
