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AlbumReviews: 'Sycophantasia' by Think Mt
Hailing from North Sumatraâs Medan, a region not exactly known for its cutting edge bands, Thing Mt
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Hailing from North Sumatra's Medan, a region not exactly known for its cutting edge bands, Thing Mt. ' the solo project of 17-year-old Henokh Setiawan aka Nokhius ' offers a up low fidelity plate of shambolic indie rock.
Released through Barokah Records, a 'netlabel' which distributes only in digital format, Thing Mt.'s Sycophantasia, available through barokahrecords.bandcamp.com, is a welcome follow-up to a previously released EP ' which is even more obscure and untraceable.
At just six tracks, Sycophantasia makes its case clear ' vocals drenched in reverb and distortion, raunchy guitars that sound like they were recorded straight into a boom box, straight-ahead thin drums, and purposely laissez-faire production.
It's ultra-current American indie rock that calls to mind early Cloud Nothings and Smith Westerns releases through a modernized Indonesian eye. To call it wholly derivative of its influence would be fair but takes away from what the record manages to mold with those borrowed elements.
Whether it succeeds in creating something new is questionable ' it doesn't ' but the attempt is there.
Taking into consideration Henokh's age, the simple songwriting here seems considerably good, though still far from great. Consistent experimentation with songwriting and exposure to a good amount of melodic pop would do the next Thing Mt. release good.
The record opens with 'Angel Everything', a slow-paced ballad built on sleepy tambourine and drunken blues guitar leads. Henokh sings with an affected detachment under a haze of distortion, making his words sound jumbled. By the end of the song, the musician's voice seems closer to drifting off, as power chords and freeform solos bellow behind him.
'The Woodworks' follows with contextual energy; Henokh's narcoleptic singing sounding awake, while around him rough guitar strumming and cymbal crashes play a 1960s pop-via-post-grunge beat. The song's repeated yelps to 'Hold on/I don't think it will be long/and maybe you have to be strong' comes in a continuous loop.
The low beats of the wonderfully titled 'Crystal Meth for the Soul' sound fitting, if only for the way the caveman percussive work settles against the childlike melody and morose lyrics ('Nothing I do will ever be good/Nothing I do will make you smile'). The song loops its melody for its entire running time before a plucky solo and driving beat takes it out.
'[Cry at the same time]' is a stand out with another childlike melody, which is reminiscent ' even more so than anything else on the record ' of 1980s American underground mainstays such as Beat Happening and early Pavement releases.
Later tracks like the shoegaze drench of 'Childlike Malevolence' rid themselves of the childlike glee of the early tracks, replacing it with more pensive, if shorter, bursts of melancholy.
A record with analogue aspirations such as Sycophantasia deserves a physical release, certainly on the very hip cassette tape, at the very least. On a computer desktop, its purposeful harshness sounds out of place, even off-putting to those wanting something more welcoming.
But for what it is, Thing Mt.'s latest is a respectable rendering of a teenage heart that could do with more crafting. It may not be as enjoyable as even lo-fi fans may expect, but there's no denying its purity.
