A butterfly-like metamorphosis, bdrmm expand their sound on Microtonic.

Having reached that grow-or-stagnate point of their musical career, bdrmm have decided to grow. Not that there wasn’t a clearly readable upwards trajectory in the previous works the Hull-based indie-rockers have produced, but even from the first couple tracks their new  full-length effort, Microtonic, can’t help but feel like a full-blown upgrade. This is nothing but timely: having honed and cemented the signature traits of their sounds over their debut and sophomore album, this very much felt like the right time for ambition, an occasion to experiment and explore and perhaps even wander a little further away from what one would have expected of this band thus far (the pun about stepping out of the bedroom writes itself, but there is some truth to it). Vocalist Ryan Smith is completely correct in describing the new record as ‘a proper step up’, because that is exactly what it feels like: building on those very same solid foundations which provided its predecessors with their charm and personality, Microtonic broadens its horizon and goes down entirely new avenues, contaminating the familiar indie-rock shoegaze with an abundant does of synth-rock and a range of suggestions from electronica of all stripes. At the top of the list of new influences Working Men’s Club inevitably sits, with Syd Minsky-Sargeant being a prominent collaborator to the record: he provides the vocals to opening track Goit, which is both jarring and successful as an unexpected turn, and his presence is felt elsewhere in the way the synth elements worm their way through the music. The result is a much more dynamic sound, with greater depth and a more animated personality, both danceable and reflective. It is not quite a chameleonic turn – old fans of the band will still find within this album everything that first made them fall in love with bdrmm and their music – but rather a butterfly-like metamorphosis: the same recognisable creature spreading a pair of unexpectedly colourful wings.

This overall upbeat, almost excited mood pervading the record might come as a bit of a surprise considering its overall themes, which are in fact rather haunting: the inability to perceive a possible future, a sense of dissociation from an increasingly threatening reality, a bad-trip-like take on how everything feels distorted and vaguely ominous (“warped, broken, and taken away”, to quote the spoken-word piece Ryan delivers on the skittering, off-tempo Snares, one of the most impressive and most experimental pieces in the album). Perhaps the delight that still comes through from every single track is not as much because of its subject matter, but a reflection of the band’s clearly genuine joy in making the music, an enthusiastic embracing of the new capabilities displayed in this record and the new paths they open. Microtonic is not a concept album, but it is quasi-concept in a way: single tracks are developed from strong concepts of their own (Clarkycat draws from Kafka’s Metamorphosis, for instance) and there is a clear red thread connecting everything in it. It is hard to preserve a sense that the artists are having fun when working with this kind of material, but this is a record that does it, and that’s very possibly where the joy comes from. Or perhaps Microtonic is true to its name, and represents not only a portrait of a depressing state of the world but also the tonic needed to confront it and avoid losing the grip on reality altogether.

The overall energy level of the album is certainly higher than its predecessors had; see tracks like the relentlessly pulsating and very aptly-named In The Electric Field, with guest vocalist Olivesque weaving her brighter melody into a very dark, thick rhythm line, or Lake Disappointment, quite possibly the most intriguing piece of music on this record with its bass line tying together a temperamental package of rippling sounds. Clashing with its themes of disconnection and dismay, the record is very much the reflection of a band eager to do something, and to do something new. It is a clever example of experimentation done right, and a very enticing suggestion of new trajectories we can expect from these artists in the future.