Soundscape aficionado Ionomy has crafted one of his grooviest full-length electronics yet on Preamble.Puzzle.
Like any artist who keeps it real, electronic musician Ionomy takes inspiration from his surroundings.
The inventive artist blends his day job as a game designer into his nightly grind at the home studio, taking inspiration from the buzzy tones of SNES-era, video game music. The result is a dose of bright and exciting music that feels oddly familiar. For the 6th instalment of his Preamble Beats catalogue, Ionomy is more ambitious than ever – it’s a thrill to hear!
“My personal goal for this instalment was to boldly write song after song, without fear of what the end result might sound like”, the artist comments. This mission statement is immediately apparent on the opener, Avarice. The beginning features a dirty, sub-bass synth, but the soundscape pairs it with world percussion, punky electric guitars, and swelling chords. It’s a combination that doesn’t work on paper but ends up sounding immersive and genuinely inspired.
Then there’s the hypnotic, sinister sway of Parcels, which had me forgetting I was at my desk for a couple of minutes. The synth melody could have been straight out of a Donkey Kong Country loading screen from the ’90s, and that’s definitely a compliment.
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Carousel is another intriguing moment, featuring some of the most sporadic instrumentation performances on the LP. It sounds like the soundtrack to a carousel ride if the carriages suddenly came alive and turned on each other. The glittery synths in the top end are a nice touch, but I’m still terrified.
Ionomy closes out the record with the glitched up number, Nola. An array of broken chords circle a drowning synth loop, making for one last impression of creative energy that could have only come from the mind of the thoughtful instrumentalist himself.
Listen to Preamble.Puzzle below:
