March 19, 2024

Civil Civic – “The Test” is an insistent impelling piece of EDM fused with rave and New Order

GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT        October 14th 2016

I’ll admit a weakness for a certain bass sound, where the melody runs up and down the fretboard. Also for shoegazey distortion washes – whether guitar or synthesised.  I’m pretty fond, too, of ravey rises in intensity – the big handwaving chorus melodies and the sense of rising pressure in early Moby records. All of which you’ll find here.

Crunchy old-school synth chords and lively beats speeding into the distance, this one jumps up and down like an excited puppy. Synth chorus swishes over the rubbery sequencers and glittering keys join in. Rounded guitar tones give an organic feel alongside some squelchy synth burps. Guitar gets more insistent and throws in some nice descending runs. At one point we step back to echoey sounds and a gentle pace, steel guitar-ish sounds reverberate. The lengthy track, The Slide, is a headrush of tumbling sounds and blurry motion amongst accelerating drums.

This is an album entirely made of instrumentals and largely riding on bass melodies, bringing to mind New Order. There’s an emphasis on the synths and an almost-continual forward motion, except the odd moment when we coast on the bass riff. Keyboard arpeggios appear from time to time and riff happily up and down, merely sweetening the main game, which is the throbbing and rolling bass.

Civil Civic are a Melbourne duo, fusing production experience with live work with a dub band, coloured all over with EDM. It’s a heady mix, not confused with vocals, all about your visceral reaction to the music passing between your ears and the soundtrack to the best party you never went to.

About Author