Fresh Picks: U S.
U S – Stafford, England, United Kingdom.
To simply and uniformly associate Electronic Music with Hardcore Dance or warped 80’s and 90’s Pop songs or anything related to such from any era would be a mistake. The world of Experimental Electronic Music is is own barrel of progression and diverse artistry in the same way as it is in the opposing guitar-led Prog-Rock world across the river of opinion.
Enter U S, a two-piece from Stafford that describe themselves as somewhere between the sounds of Experimental Electronic Music but with a slight flare of Punk attitude and outlook. This is primarily found in the lyrical content with their social-political and indeed deeply personal edge, with tracks names such as ‘Cautionary Tale’ and ‘Subjective Classification’ showing this deeper meaning and complexity beyond the music itself.
But there’s more. Elements of Indie, Hip-Hop, Trip-Hop and Spoken Word litter the music in very same way that a lot of Post-Rock uses samples – see ‘Beat’ and ‘Falling’ – to add further depth. This is very much music for those inclined towards the weird wonderful and progressive end of Ambient Music, in a way that achieves what bands such as Angels & Airwaves couldn’t quite achieve themselves.
Much of the band’s first album, UX, could been easily be seen as the soundtrack to a film or game where the protagonist is having some sort of existential crisis or is regrettably entrenched in a position where whatever decision they make will cause heartache for at least someone. Despite the complexity of this music and its themes as clear as they sometimes aren’t, the emotive response you gain from it is credit to good production and songwriting, with again, ‘Subject Classification’ standing out.
‘The Leaves’ is another testament to the strong songwriting and catharsis of this release and its strong focus on mental health and the escape those who suffer with such long for.
As is common with band’s and artists in this vein of Progressive music, the constant writing and output never really ceases. U S are currently working on their second album with their work thus far hosted on their Allihoopa profile which will be left below. The site is useful for fans as well as artists so if that is something that peaks interest, we throughly recommend having a look.
U S are interesting and constantly evolving within their field and that’s exciting.
Find them:
- Social Media/Updates: Facebook, Reverbnation.
- Music: bandcamp, SoundCloud, Allihoopa, Youtube Channel.
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