TRILOGY - Carpenter Brut

A combination of his EPs "I", "II" and "III" (a trilogy of EPs, if you will), Carpenter Brut shows us why he's such a big force in the synthwave scene.

It's difficult to call synthwave just music. Synthwave is, in effect, an aesthetic, imbued with the spirit of neon street lights and long night drives. It's one of the few genres that can boast such a claim — not every style of music has an unseverable bond with an overarching aesthetic, and even fewer are as recognisable as the bright synth runs and sweeping atmospheres of the retro synthwave romanticization. Carpenter Brut would know; after all, he's a renowned pioneer in the space. Fusing the more traditional neon-styled synth lines with the grimier darksynth style, finding fault in the personal aesthetic of "TRILOGY" is difficult. This record embodies everything synthwave stands for in an ever so slightly offbeat manner — bright atmospheres backed by intense basslines; infectious synth leads with a strangely anarchic undertone to them; stereotypical night-drive vibes tainted with the everpresent demeanour of something darker. The employment of the more esoteric darksynth sub-style proves to be an asset for "TRILOGY", too, lending a much-needed intensity to the tracklist, driving many of the tracks along and giving to us some of the most impactful sections in the entire album. But when an album does that over and over and over, for a mammoth 90 minutes of runtime, things start to get a little repetitive. "TRILOGY" finds it increasingly more difficult to actively maintain my attention as the album progresses, and however good Carpenter Brut is at powering through the aesthetic he knows best, to do that in a very similar way for 18 tracks is to invite repetitiveness into your house for tea. The lack of listener engagement is a flaw that cannot be overlooked for "TRILOGY", because despite the few switchups and nifty new ideas like in "Looking For Tracy Tzu" or "Anarchy Road", it is far too easy to zone out. There is a case to be made that "TRILOGY" suffices better as a background album, I suppose, but ultimately that's not what I consider to be the mark of a good project.

Whilst I embrace long albums with open arms, there is an undeniable difficulty in making something as long as 90 minutes actively engaging. Unfortunately, "TRILOGY" did not. Carpenter Brut will continue to make waves in the synthwave scene, I hope, and his production quality is clearly good enough to supplement that, but in my eyes, "TRILOGY" will not serve as more than a soundtrack to his success — a bunch of damn good tracks that never actually hold your attention.