Los Angeles – For all intents and purposes, Silicon’s debut release Personal Computer (Weird World) feels a whole lot like a concept record. However, it is unclear whether sole member Kody Nielson is crafting a narrative throughout the album or simply repeatedly tapping into a rich thematic well. No matter what the approach is, throughout the record Nielson displays an obsession with technology and its ever-encroaching grasp on everyday life. From the first moments of the opening title track, this focus is felt; a robotic voice prefaces the first lines Nielson sings, full of hope: “Never be lonely / Personal computer / Someone that’s listening / Personal computer.”
There are other, more superficial signposts of Personal Computer’s futuristic motif: the band’s moniker is shared with the valley best known as the world’s technological epicenter; there are technology-referencing titles like “Cell Phone”, “God Emoji”, and “Personal Computer”; “Submarine” samples the pinging of a sonar machine before launching into a dirty bass-driven dance-funk groove; even the twee disco-pop track “Little Dancing Baby” recalls the proto-viral “Baby Cha-Cha” 3-D rendering that adorned so many 1990’s desktops.
Musically, Personal Computer is an extremely complex record that challenges the listener as much it rewards it. Many songs start slowly and require patience, progressing to moments like the breakdown of “God Emoji”, which is a pitch-perfect disco bridge that would fit perfectly in any Hall & Oates classic. This tendency to gradually build songs is not the case with “Burning Sugar”. Instantly infectious, the second single rips through the speakers with a jaggedly “wah-ing” guitar riff that is driven by the album’s fastest tempos, smoothly gliding into Nielson’s falsetto chorus.
While the majority of the tracks on Personal Computer are a hybrid of modern electro-pop and vintage disco and funk, there is one song that stands out as a bit of an oddball. “Love Peace” is a smooth, stripped-down, piano-backed R&B cut. Despite standing out a bit, the track absolutely fits in and complements the less-analog-sounding grooves heard before and after it. A gorgeous pop song, “Love Peace” demonstrates Nielson’s songwriting abilities at their finest.
Nielson brings the album full circle midway through the hypnotic closing track, “Dope” by giving the robotic voice a final appearance. The dub-inspired song is backed with a repetitively burbling bass line and is deftly complemented by distant, folksy melodica runs. The music fades into the background for a moment; instead of reprising the hopeful lines of the opening-song sample, the voice recites its diametrically opposed chorus:
“Close the window / draw the curtains / Now I’m someone / Who’s important / Take a picture / To remind me / That the future is all behind me / They prey on people losing / And prey on people watching / Knows what I’m thinking / Eyes never blinking / Personal Computer.”
Silicon will hit the road with Chet Faker in late October / early November, playing in Melbourne, Brisbane, and Sydney in Australia. On November 24th and 25th the band will open for Tame Impala in Aukland and Wellington in New Zealand. Get tickets for the Chet Faker tour here and the Tame Impala dates here.
Matt Matasci
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