Rocker (feedbot)
Platinum Member
Trap, like rap and hip-hop, is largely a solo pursuit. The individual needs to stand out. Hence with each release Mimi Barks’ image changes, as does her sound. It’s a state of constant reinvention making it hard to pin down exactly who she is or what her music will sound like. Two years ago, her album ‘This Is Doom Trap’ gave the impression she was hurtling along, unsure of a direction. Imagine the animated film The Wrong Trousers where Gromit is riding an out-of-control train frantically laying track in front of him, desperately trying not to crash. That was the sound. By embracing that joyride, new EP ‘Dreamstate of Fear’ careens off in a thrilling new direction. As its title suggested, ‘This Is Doom Trap’ was an attempt to define her music. It was a sprawling collection, dipping into different sounds, combining trap beats and rapped vocals, darker, screamy alt-metal stylings and softer soundscapes. This release plays with those same ideas, but is weirder and far more intense.
Basically, this EP is split in two, opening with three gleefully gnarly trap/nu-metal hybrids before changing shape. ‘Dreamstate Of Hell’ is built around the flickering tick-tick-tick hi-hat beats that define trap but quickly becomes an unsettling brew of looped chord stabs and vicious guitar licks. Its chorus sounds like a corrupted Linkin Park; uncanny yet strangely catchy. Similarly, ‘Ophelia’ has the heart of a pop-punk classic buried amongst the mixture of synths, and licks and clicks. This paves the way for the EP’s centrepiece ‘Jericho’, a strange mutant built over the thud and throb of a programmed drumkit rather than a repetitive hi-hat undercurrent. Ugly, shifting guitars create a nightmarish canvas while her contorted vocal paints an uncomfortable, druggy, and deeply intoxicating portrait.
Two short, textured instrumentals bleed away the EP’s energy making its second half feel like an extended coda. However, it’s not short of ideas and ‘Power durch verrat’ features rapping in a European language (Possibly German) which stresses the harsh consonants and shhh sounds in a way that works remarkably well over a straight beat. On ‘Butterfly In Chains’, she dredges up an infectious chorus while the music spits and sputters like a basket of snakes in a fireworks factory.
One of trap’s biggest stars Travis Scott has more than a billion YouTube views on singles like ‘Goosebumps’. So the question is, does Scott define trap? Is that why so many artists heavily process their voices? In contrast to ‘This Is Doom Trap’, this EP breaks with that style. Each song presents her voice in fascinating ways, and yes, although the vocals are treated it’s never heavy-handed or unpleasant, helping her voice twist and contort. It’s also interesting when she treats her vocals, how intimate her songs can feel, and how she shifts the space between her tone and the listener. In effect she pursues a feeling that suits each song’s style.
Filled with fizzing, hissing vocals coiled around stressful, anxious beats ‘Dreamstate Of Fear’ is a caustic and creative reinvention.
IAN KENWORTHY
Basically, this EP is split in two, opening with three gleefully gnarly trap/nu-metal hybrids before changing shape. ‘Dreamstate Of Hell’ is built around the flickering tick-tick-tick hi-hat beats that define trap but quickly becomes an unsettling brew of looped chord stabs and vicious guitar licks. Its chorus sounds like a corrupted Linkin Park; uncanny yet strangely catchy. Similarly, ‘Ophelia’ has the heart of a pop-punk classic buried amongst the mixture of synths, and licks and clicks. This paves the way for the EP’s centrepiece ‘Jericho’, a strange mutant built over the thud and throb of a programmed drumkit rather than a repetitive hi-hat undercurrent. Ugly, shifting guitars create a nightmarish canvas while her contorted vocal paints an uncomfortable, druggy, and deeply intoxicating portrait.
Two short, textured instrumentals bleed away the EP’s energy making its second half feel like an extended coda. However, it’s not short of ideas and ‘Power durch verrat’ features rapping in a European language (Possibly German) which stresses the harsh consonants and shhh sounds in a way that works remarkably well over a straight beat. On ‘Butterfly In Chains’, she dredges up an infectious chorus while the music spits and sputters like a basket of snakes in a fireworks factory.
One of trap’s biggest stars Travis Scott has more than a billion YouTube views on singles like ‘Goosebumps’. So the question is, does Scott define trap? Is that why so many artists heavily process their voices? In contrast to ‘This Is Doom Trap’, this EP breaks with that style. Each song presents her voice in fascinating ways, and yes, although the vocals are treated it’s never heavy-handed or unpleasant, helping her voice twist and contort. It’s also interesting when she treats her vocals, how intimate her songs can feel, and how she shifts the space between her tone and the listener. In effect she pursues a feeling that suits each song’s style.
Filled with fizzing, hissing vocals coiled around stressful, anxious beats ‘Dreamstate Of Fear’ is a caustic and creative reinvention.
IAN KENWORTHY