The ongoing lack of sales of physical CD’s may doesn’t allow a music project to wait nearly 6 years for the release of a first full-length album. But as usual, those things differ with Australia’s EMPTY, as they still rely on their very own talents regarding production, releasing and distribution under their Aphotic Audio label. After three well recognised EP releases (”Open Aeon”, ”Aeon Xpand”, and last years’ ”Never Get To You”) and a digital-only instrumental soundtrack-like collection freely available from their website, they finally could get it ready - a real full-length album. Whoever knows, if this one would been ever released, if there wouldn’t have been so much unexpected positive reactions on their last EP ”Never Get To You”. Somehow this release has been a kind of trigger for Daniel Brunet and Aaron Potter, as they had initially installed newer and more refreshing elements into their arrangements. The usage of Clicks ‘n’ Dubs, Breakbeats, lighter synth lines and lesser fx-processed vocals especially on ”Never Get To You” has seemingly left influence on all of their newer compositions - finally it has only taken a year after the EP, until this album was ready to get dropped on their audience.
EMPTY are always, and have always been, quite aware to sound unique, and at least to experiment with this rather untypical and IDM-related sounds and patterns has offered them the needed doze of self-confidence into their own abilities. Their music remains to be Dark Electro, but there’s no PUPPYan bone-licker copycat-syndrome recognisable. ”Surfacing” therefore picks up exactly that path, which ”Never Get To You” has started - better said, it refines those ideas without altering their musically origins. Stereotyped thinking has been always with them to describe their sound, and I remember, that I named quite often DISMANTLED as being a reference - but that can only catch a small part of their meanwhile grown musically spectrum, they nowadays like to produce.
Already the starting instrumental track ”Deprivation” presents a lot, but not all of their musically influences, by combining detailed and dark-minded synth sweeps with diverse rhythm patterns. Both, ”Never Get To You” and the already discovered b-side of that EP, ”Forgotten Dreams”, got included too. ”The Centre” then can be named as being the centre of attention, as this track comes out with a heavy bass line programming and again a rather IDM/modern Electronica-sounding rhythm work - highlighted by the slightly vocoderized, but catchy vocal performance, which offers this track a high recognition value. Then the tempo turns down and the synth pads got even more icy, but also melodic produced with true and epic Dark Electro components, ”Drift” turns in and leaves you breathless. Definitely their best tune so far, although it draws the nearest relations to earlier works like ”Ghost Besides You” for example, available on ”Open Aeon”. Again spectacular - the usage of their typical vocoder effects on the vocals. At least, that lyrically quite hopeless track ”Frames”, featuring Tessa Zynik as being the female vocal counterpart, impresses with a sad mood and light piano drops.
”Surfacing” offers one remarkable tune after another and if you would decide, to spin it the 25th time, you would still find some new and extra-ordinary content worth to discover. This album seemingly gets never boring - which other release out in this year can offer the same impression like this one? A must-have release!