Canadian composer and producer Chatterless channels dark, cinematic synthwave on new track “DECUMANUS,” blending industrial electronica with driving low-end intensity and a brooding film-score sensibility. The track’s seamless momentum and immersive atmosphere reinforce Jayme McDonald’s genre-spanning approach to electronic music.
“The Romans called it DECUMANUS, the east to west road every city they built was built around it,” the artist explains. “I’ve been moving those same directions for a couple years now, back and forth across Canada. The DECUMANUS was originally built to move people. So is this song.”
A growling, distorted electronic presence combines with brief flourishes of wordless choral accents as the track gets underway. A thumping rhythmic foundation ensues, with pounding percussion and sharp bass maneuvering seamlessly with synthwave-friendly force. Spacey synth tones inject quickly thereafter, assuming a whirring ardor past the first minute alongside glistening accents. The artfully accomplished build-up, from initial distorted intrigue to full-bodied energy, is lovably infectious and dynamic in its melodic direction.
The second half introduces a manipulated voice sample, adding a house-friendly element in playing rhythmically alongside the pulsing rhythms and stylish synthwave tones. This final minute or so is a tour-de-force, converging the aforementioned elements (the catchy rhythms, stylish synths, and pitch-altered vocalic chops) into a cumulative delight of a sound. Immersing in its sense of continuous motion and momentum, “DECUMANUS” is an enveloping electronic success from Chatterless. It is an aptly eclectic triumph from Jayme McDonald, an artist who has excelled across various media realms, from film scoring and television to video games and his own independent productions.
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This and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.
We discovered this release via MusoSoup.
