Misc. Day – Absent In The Brain

As if time wasn’t confusing enough, POW! orchestrates a sound that can be placed in the style of the early 60s of experimental flower power but also stranded in a future where machinery becomes the new sonic ability.

On their 2017 release Crack An Egg, POW! is exhilarating from the jump. They open with “DNS” which proceeds through a cascade of muddied synth notes that resemble a glitched choir, only to snatch the rug and reveal a more upbeat punch. The Onomatopoeia which gives POW! their name is somehow a fitting and appropriate title with some stretch of the imagination as the group is poppy and eye-catching.

The flash only adds to the mix of the 12 different tracks like with “Castle Of Faith” where the strings and percussion are a tandem bicycle of both construction and destruction. On one hand, the instrumentation piles these layers and desires to the pot,  stewing like one giant conglomerate of impression. Suddenly,  the synth chords are divided like delicate spice from the rack, ensuing this manifestation to be more than just a collective of noise.

Other later pieces like “Cyberattack #3” are formative in the way the percussion becomes clockwork-esque through consistent quarter notes. The other instrumentalists are contributing small rhythms which becomes almost reminiscent of a DEVO track where the ambiance and atmosphere is air-tight. POW! immediately gets the neck jolting and the legs to twist to the beat.

Crack An Egg is less about taking away and more about keeping this format of rhythms together as one fluid object. Each additional component of the instrumentals are like a hidden code inside one arching and sprawling spiderweb of numbers and letters. POW! becomes this pop art monument of style and sound where the warped corners become more customary and are signs of identity.

Especially on “Hello” where the instrumentation is only present for a mere minute, the style is changed entirely to accommodate a much slower, more methodical idea to the madness. The one-two step isn’t fast enough to be danced to, but it isn’t nearly slow enough to fall asleep to either. In this strange limbo, POW! uses “Hello” as a unique transitional period in Crack An Egg.

As time changes, so do POW! who opts with the final title track “Crack An Egg” to be one of the last steps in the trailing saga of performance. Hands curl back to their skeletal structure while the synths are slowly warped to become this method of percussive combination. The twisted and bent material is somehow unable to find a vein of groove, but this only makes the last seconds of Crack An Egg more expressive and engaging to the ear.

Where words fail, POW! creates one of the more interesting steps into the dreamscape of machine and human love. The touches of synth keys and pads work to be underlying majorities to construct a necessary, but eager revamp of a classic style.

Listen To Crack An Egg Here!!! – BandCamp/Spotify/iTunes