This Digital Landscape - The Face You Wear Is Not Your Own
by Ian Rapp
The Face You Wear Is Not Your Own is an album made in the spirit of a live modular performance–the capture of a seemingly irreproducible patch.
Six concise tracks each grapple for the attention of the listener. There is both vibey darkness here and a kind of optimistic retrofuturism. From the perspective of a chronicle of modular exploration it is successful–although some tracks fare better than others.
Don't get me wrong, there are some fun and intriguing gems on this album. "Release" is a brooding down tempo meditation with impressive depth to its ambient bed and layering of sound. "Morph" is a compact study in glitchy modulation. "Anew" has a great upbeat modular pop vibe, with its bouncy textures playing excellently off of a nice fuzzy bass line.
As a snapshot of a musical moment in time The Face You Wear Is Not Your Own works well. Its tracks are well-crafted and succinct—most say what they want to say and then get out of the way. A few of the drum sections feel like an afterthought and I found myself wishing for interpretations that allowed the rhythms of the other instruments come to the fore more, but overall The Face You Wear Is Not Your Own is an interesting listen.