★★½
Half-baked yet brave, Chrome Sparks’Parallelismis the very definition of an interesting misfire; a sloppy, frustrating work that nonetheless contains some striking moments.
For better and for worse, Parallelism is without boundaries. Over the space of three mammoth tracks, Jeremy Malvin – the man behind the Chrome Sparks name – mixes up a swathe of genres and tones. And, to give him credit, at times this freeform attitude is invigorating. A track like ‘Moonraker’ is a mix of soul, house, pop and electro elements, and Malvin’s disregard for genre convention gives the tune a destructive tension.
But there’s a fine line between the freeform and the formless, and it often feels as though Malvin is merely trying on styles rather than fully inhabiting them. The eight-minute-plus ‘Give It Up’ features a central section rife with musical cliché, and though the slow-burn tempo of ‘Ride The White Lightning’ contains a certain amount of pleasure, it leaves very little in its wake.
It’s a shame, particularly given the flashes of greatness spotted throughout the piece. What Malvin needs more than anything is a censor; someone to encourage the artist to stay on track.
There’s a great album in Chrome Sparks. This just isn’t it.
Chrome Sparks’Parallelismis out now on Future Classic.
