T. Price – Total Eclipse
T. Price is a singer/songwriter from Madison, Wisconsin. The solo artist focuses on folk, pop, rock and electronic music. His LP, Total Eclipse, ironically has an album cover with half an eclipse. Like the disparity between the sun and the moon, half the album is powerful and bright, while the second half is sadly a dud.
Face Masks & Tear Gas is a masterpiece in synth pop and rock fusion. The auto-tuned vocals are borderline delirious, yet equally entertaining. Powerful emotion and incredibly lush instrumentals are chiselled into every bar. The stimulating bass line ferociously glues every idiosyncratic department together in one of the most brilliant songs one could possibly imagine. The following track, Holding Cell, is the ultimate summer jam. The synth-pop conventions are anything but conventional, while the fusion of acoustics is seamless and joyful. July 4 continues the pulsating summer vibes in a more stripped-back, yet laid-back fashion. The result is not as dense as the preceding tracks, yet equally enjoyable, mostly due to the exceptional drum track.
Sadly, the album faulters after the brilliant opening three tracks. Compromise is a trepid 80’s synth pop retread. Envy Pt 2 boasts very impressive avant-garde and experimental IDM, though the vocals are a mixed bag. Moreover, the chorus works well, but the verses are lacklustre. The final two songs, A Little Bit of Earth and Google Maps are tacky and sub-standard; both tracks suffer from a boring composition outside their exquisite production.
Had T. Price not rushed his release, Total Eclipse could have been a masterpiece. Sadly, the album falls back on some of the most over-done conventions in its second half, dragging the overall experience down greatly. Nevertheless, I highly recommend everyone listen to the first half of this LP – T. Price has produced some of the most spectacular, innovative music in the underground scene. In future, I suggest T. Price embrace his experimental side and continue down that path.
Average
Listen to it here:
T. Price – Total Eclipse
