Album Review: Blaqk Audio’s ‘Material’

This week, Blaqk Audio’s new album ‘Material’ showed up in my inbox, and I discovered this was the side project of AFI’s Davey Havok and Jade Puget. Upon learning this, my exact thought was something along the lines of, “sick, I used to listen to a decent amount of AFI when I was younger, this should be cool!”. Before listening, I was expecting something a bit heavy, with distorted guitars and growling vocals. What I wasn’t expecting was synth-pop electronica…

‘Material’ starts off with Waiting To Be Told, a bold track featuring heavily reverberated, layered synths. Havok’s distinctly recognisable vocals cut through the electronic soundscape, as one of the only distinguishable similarities to AFI that I noted on the record. That being said, while ‘Material’ wasn’t what I was expecting from an AFI side project, it did have a handful of great, catchy synth-pop tracks.

“It’s these upbeat, catchy dance-pop-esque numbers that I found really stood out and shined through on this album.”

After the first few songs on the record, which I found to be a bit forgettable, the duo really starts to hit their stride with Curious Friends. The song is a fast-paced number that deals with the theme of unrequited love: “Does he tell you that he loves you, like you do? Does he tell you that he loves you? I wonder who does he say it to”. The four songs before it hadn’t quite managed to grab my attention, the way Curious Friends did. This song had me intrigued by the use of dynamic melodies in the verses and the pumping, repetitive chorus. The choice of layered synths also contributed to making the song dynamically interesting and it had me feeling slightly nostalgic for 90s electronica.

The next song on the album is Graphic Violence, which would have to be my favourite track on ‘Material’. Graphic Violence is very, very 90s, reminding me of Aqua and Vengaboys and all the other happy dance-pop acts from my childhood. There’s also a high-pitched synth on the track that taps out this catchy little melody, which ended up stuck in my head for about an hour after I heard it. It’s these upbeat, catchy dance-pop-esque numbers that I found really stood out and shined through on this album.

Next up is I’m A Mess, which is a little more solemn, dealing with the album’s overarching theme of unrequited love. Lines like “you won’t care that I can’t live, live without you” are crooned over dark melodies and a steady disco beat. If I had to pick a song from the album that is most reminiscent of AFI’s music, it would be this one!

“Curious Friends and Graphic Violence were the real strengths of the album for me, as they got stuck in my head, and made me nostalgic for the dance-pop of yesteryear.”

Another notable track on the album is You Will Hate Me, which features staccato synths layered with complimentary melodies in the chorus. The refrain again features themes of unrequited love, “I’d take you out, but I know you hate me”. The next track Ceremonial (Burst Into Stars) is a more contemporary sounding number, with bass drops and dance synths characteristic of more recent clubbing music.

Closing the album is the slow building Anointed. The percussion on the track is interesting with really sharp, faint kick drum sound present in the right speaker as the song begins, that’s a little weird when you listen with headphones (it caught me off guard the first time I heard it and I thought it was my headphones messing up). As the song progresses layers are added and the song adopts a kind of club ballad style, similar to acts like Pendulum.

As a whole, I found ‘Material’ to be a bit hit or miss in terms of interesting and catchy songs. The songs I found to be uninteresting were those that didn’t really build in intensity, or add interesting layers to their soundscape. However, while I thought some of the tracks were forgettable, the ones that I enjoyed were worth sifting through the others to find. Songs like Curious Friends and Graphic Violence were the real strengths of the album for me, as they got stuck in my head, and made me nostalgic for the dance-pop of yesteryear.