I Contain Flashing Images - No Mana

Backed by an incredibly detailed pixel art cover, "I Contain Flashing Images" is one giant mood swing of electro house, progressive house, and techno.

No Mana brings his talents to Monstercat for his sophomore album, driven by his beloved style of electro house, and comes out with one of the best albums of the genre to be released in years. In what is often quite a derivative scene, No Mana succeeds in bringing his own almost 8-bit flair to "I Contain Flashing Images", bundled with some satisfying basslines and infectious leads. But the selling factor of "I Contain Flashing Images" lies not in the basslines, nor the leads, nor the production stylistics, but in the personality of the overarching project. The short, spoken-word intro exudes character, even if it is utterly pointless, and from there the mood of the record is impeccable; "I Contain Flashing Images" still explores its fair share of tone — from the mournful and melancholic, to the bright and clubby — but it does so in a brilliantly polished manner, always skirting emotion in its progressive nature just long enough to strike it at a well-timed drop towards the end of each track, always progressive enough to draw out the different moods over substantial movements. The way in which the mood shifts contributes massively to its expertise — No Mana keeps each tonal switch in check at practically every stage in the almost hour-long tracklist, and the project subsequently feels far smoother and more cohesive than it has any right to be. And whilst "I Contain Flashing Images" did, I feel, lack creativity (as does a lot of house music of this style, admittedly), it's not the creativity that really pushes this album up to the highest peaks of the electro house scene — no, it's the silky smooth structural quality to the tracklist, the masterfully structured swings between wistful and hopeful. Don't get me wrong, the production isn't half bad either, with some lovely progression and synthwork, but No Mana finds his star power in structure and structure alone.

The lack of creativity does, however, bug me, even with the structural trump card. Particularly towards the end, "I Contain Flashing Images" becomes a derivative version of its former self, and whilst the final two tracks are amazing, the late midsection suffers from repetitiveness and a noticeable lack of ideas. Whilst the vocalists help a lot — all the vocals, throughout the album, are just fantastic — the late midsection is still a drag to get through, and that did leave a sour taste on my tongue at the end.