Sydney’s electronic trio, famous for making tripped out electronic records way before it was cool, have been a little quiet as of late. With founding member Alex Cameron taking some time out to craft Jumping The Shark, the trio have followed up on their very croony, very Future Classic single Another with Test & Recognise.
Seekae‘s new single keeps us guessing as to what we’re gonna get on their recently announced upcoming album, The Worry.
Following the newer sound introduced in Another, Test & Recognise conforms to a more modern electronic scene, most notably the bands’ newfound reliance on vocal melodies and hooks. While I feel that this newest single is still marking a departure from their first two incredible albums, it’s perhaps a little more experimental than the quite accessible production on Another.
While Seekae get a little more creative with their time signatures on this one and there are elements of them returning to something a little more sonically interesting, the song as a whole is still linked wholly with the Future Classic sound.
Does Test & Recognise reach a golden mean between the older material and the newer direction influenced by modern electronic/RnB? A piece of preliminary social media research on The Ripe might suggest that for fans of the Future Classic fare, this single might be a little out of their depth. Take a look at the response on the single stream on Soundcloud – my favourite comment concisely expressing the commenters opinion by simply stating “????” at about 2:20.
On the other hand, I’m one of those wankers that still spin The Sound Of Trees Falling On People a few times a month, and this comes across as quite a mainstream piece of production. The synthesised chords don’t sound nearly interesting enough to compare to their earlier work, the detuned melody sounds a little strange and the drumbeat that opens the track uses a pretty standard kit.
What this single achieves however is twofold. Firstly, its strange mix of FC vibes and detuned melodics make us reconsider Seekae as a whole entity and body of work. Is this single a step backwards? Certainly not, but with the incredible success of the beautiful simplicity of Another, I get the feeling that Seekae might be turning their heads back to their previous work a little too obviously on this one.
It also keeps us guessing as to what the new album is going to be, and for a band like Seekae, that’s exactly how you want to feel going into a new record. I had no clue what I was in for when I first spun The Sound Of Trees all those years ago, and it blew me out of the water. If we go into this record with a fresh perspective, combined with the enormous reach that comes with signing to Future Classic, maybe they can blow away an entire nation this time.
Test & Recognise is the first single off the band’s third album The Worry, which will be available for pre-order via Future Classic on June 13th. The band also announced a national tour with Jonti, visiting all state capitals (except Canberra) throughout August. Dates below:
Saturday, August 9 – Darwin Festival, Darwin
Tuesday, August 12 – The Zoo, Brisbane
Friday, August 15 – The Gov, Adelaide
Saturday, August 16 – The Villa, Perth
Friday, August 22 – 170 Russell St, Melbourne
Saturday, August 23 – Metro Theatre, Sydney
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