Dumb It Down＜限定盤＞

Outside of his work with Black Dice, Eric Copeland has used a massive solo catalog to explore fractured perspectives on cross-wired electronic music, deep-fried techno, and a uniquely damaged kind of pop thats all his own. While a string of releases that included 2017s Goofballs and subsequent Trogg Modal series focused on slippery synth instrumentals and techno soundtracks for scenes from a demented circus, Dumb It Down switches gears dramatically. Ten concise songs embrace melodic vocals, nylon string guitar, and more traditional pop and rock song structures, all of which are relatively new territory for Copelands usually noise-informed work. His signature multi-color loops and psychedelic electronic disruptions still serve as the foundation for almost every tune, but theyre joined by singsong melodies and smiling hooks, all congealing into an album of bubblegum hits from an alternate reality. Copelands vocals are bright and mellow, but they stay low in the mix on anxiously upbeat songs like Groove Into or Motor. Theres a strong oldies influence, with tunes like Motorcycles and Feeding a Giant twisting 60s radio rock into strange new forms. Rock & roll cliches show up in some lyrics, with nods to the rockin pneumonia and the boogie-woogie blues, but Copeland converts AM radio templates into far gnarlier sound with the addition of detuned synth bass and samples of animalistic growls. Still, breezy tunes like Push are far and away the catchiest sounds hes come up with up until this point. Whats truly remarkable about Dumb It Down is how well it fits into Copelands daunting discography, even while going in the opposite direction of everything hes done before. Even when approaching straightforward, meat-and-potatoes pop tunes, he cant extract his alien perspectives from the end results. Dumb It Downs feel-good pop is covered in the same dayglow weirdness that coats Copelands work in any style he attempts. ~ Fred Thomas