I want to start with the release I cherish a lot, and it’s not just because I was involved in it as a vocalist and lyrics-writer :)
The
Extended Play is one and only solo release by Acid Socks so far, but I hope
this project will return from hiatus it was put in back in 2013, quite soon after
The Extended Play came out.
As far as I
know, Acid Socks were formed in 2009, it was basically solo project, but some
other musicians were briefly involved in it, anyway, not much is known about
first couple of years of project’s life, partially because the founder of the
project is very modest guy not looking for any fame (by the way, he’s also a
talented short story writer and voice actor), moreover, it seemed like he
tended to create some kind of halo around Acid Socks, or, better to say, the
public image, it was actually a parody to bands’ public images, the approach
which is very peculiar to Concern Void artists.
So, the
leader of Acid Socks often introduced himself as Socks’ promoter or producer,
it’s quite similar to what Jandek’s doing, but I can assure you that back then
we didn’t know who Jandek is.
Now I
should somehow describe the sound, though it could be different, “Socks can
play any style of music”, claimed their founder. The music of Acid Socks is almost
entirely electronic, generally, they made awesome short instrumental electronic
pieces (often minimalistic), and probably, if you’re interested, we’ll return
to Acid Socks’ earlier tracks, and I’ll write another post reviewing them, but
now let’s continue talking about the project’s history.
Shadowplay
City community releases annual music samplers since 2011, and Acid Socks
participated in them ‘til the project was put on hiatus. 2011 was very
productive to Socks, and so was 2012, but the project didn’t make albums, all
tracks were available for free listening just when they were finished.
And in
spring 2013 The Extended Play was released. Working on it was easy and
interesting, I had probably nicest impressions I ever had in any musical
collaboration. At first, Socks wrote instrumentals, and then I suggested to
write lyrics and to add my vocals, Socks agreed, and that’s the way we made
this EP.
Its sound
was described by a reviewer as “Soft “evening” music; good to listen when
you’re coming home tired after a workday”; we consider the style of EP as some
kind of synthpop with a bit of post-punk and low range vocals, although
synthpop may sound differently than our EP :)
Perhaps, the
reviewer was right when he felt the sense of coming back home, but I feel it
was more like a story of progressive disappointment with life, all songs were
connected with each other, and I even find them sort of cinematic.
The Huge
Opportunities, the expectations from life, get destroyed on Corporate Picnic
showing the feeling of frustration, which leads to Bedridden’s isolation and
turns out into growing despair of Ridiculous. That’s how I felt, but you can
interpret the lyrics whatever you want.
See through a window – there is just another
wall
We’re locked here, we are still
Immovable
(Bedridden)
This EP is
very short but very important for us. Hope you like it!
Have a listen:
Sincerely
yours,
John “Grey
Lenses” Grey
