mammoth logic
Reviewed by: Christian Oliver
Published: 9 December 2010
ep: self titled
Mammoth Logic: Peculiar name aside, this electro pop duo have a release that’s sure to attract a lot of attention. They have come up with a commercial and well produced EP with songs that are catchy and very current in their musical stylings.
This EP has generated a lot of buzz since its release with national airplay for the lead single ‘Met On Mars’ on triple J and Nova radio. They have also managed to claim a spot at the Adelaide Parklife festival opening for such acts as Cut Copy, The Wombats and The Dandy Warhols. Not bad for a duo out of Adelaide. I managed to catch their EP launch at Rocket Bar and while their act needs a bit of work, they definitely have the foundation of something that could be very popular.
The first tune on the EP is ‘Never Before'; it jumps out at you with a percussive snap reminiscent of sounds you would expect from a Sneaky Sound System record. The song itself is fairly basic, centred on one groove with interspersing vocals shared between David Crowe and a mystery female vocalist. It’s all at once atmospheric and energetic and would be perfect for a night club dance floor. Reid Jones lends his saxophone skills to this track and whilst it’s a nice touch and certainly impressive to show off the extent of his multi-faceted skills, I’m not entirely sure that it’s appropriate for the genre they are in.
The next track is ‘Met on Mars’, the track that has been getting significant radio airplay. It’s a buzz of '80s style synths, keyboards and vocoders. All in all it’s a very cool jam, but for me not the strongest track on the EP. Crowe gets his Bowie on with the vocals in this track, energetically and eccentrically bouncing all over the place.
Next up is ‘In the Fire’. Now this track straight up grabs you from the get go. It is spot on in creating an outrageous spacey vibe with Crowe’s vocals and psychedelic keyboards hooking in you in from beat one. When the rest of the instrumentation kicks in it simply confirms where they are heading. One thing that Mammoth Logic seem to have a good understanding of is the importance of building a song within itself. It ebbs and flows exactly where it should and carries you along with it on the journey.
‘Move on By’ is instantly more mainstream, with more of a garage pop/rock flavour than the electro vibe they had demonstrated earlier. It’s cool and breezy but still containing attitude and makes for a nice change from the heavily produced and synth laden songs previously mentioned. It’s good to see they have more than one ace up their sleeves.
The final offering is ‘Speck of Dust’ which begins by sounding more than a little like early Jamiroquai. Crowe’s vocals in this tune also sound eerily like Owl City’s “Fireflies”. It’s another good song, laid back, very chilled and the perfect ending to the EP.
All in all this is a very interesting and promising release. It’s fun, spacey and has attitude. If you haven’t heard it yet, chances are it won’t be long before you do.
