To be honest, it’s a difficult to know where to start with Layers, and that’s not meant to sound ominous. But if you spend too much time listening to SinSin’s debut EP, it does seem to deny you thought. Not in an unpleasant can’t-hear-yourself-think sort of a way but rather in a dreamy meditative sense – the brain slows to a glacial pace, the eyes loose focus and time slows down.
Sinsin is the solo project of Geordie McCullum, who might be better know for his work with Motorcade. But, as you may have guessed from the previous paragraph, that’s as far as the connection goes. What we find here are five peaceful, sparse and spacious tracks mixing electronic and acoustic elements creating a nicely textured series of works. Opening with the most aggressive track, the eponymous Layers, the EP then settles into a more reflective mood that carries through out the next three tracks. Blinded By Your Eyes might be a highlight for me; it’s like a mesmerizing version of something from Thurston Moore’s recent solo effort Demolished Thoughts. Yeah, there’s some tasty stuff on here. Although I can’t help but notice some of it isn’t exactly flawlessly executed. This is quite possibly an aesthetic decision but it does jar at times and seems questionable as it undermines what are some very nicely evocative pieces of music.
The timing of this release is excellent: Layers is like a summer album. But a summer you might actually want to have – not one involving standing around a BBQ, listening to Fat Freddies and saying “bro” a lot more than should be necessary. Rather, Layers is bright and hazy. This is a promising debut from SinSin and I look forward to seeing them live and hearing their future efforts.
