Corduroy Boy’s EP ‘Structure’ Demonstrates Electronic Euphoria & Restraint

Corduroy Boy is an electronic music producer and sonic inventor from Brisbane. His technical capabilities as both a songwriter and purveyor of the sonic craft is on full display on his debut EP, ‘Structure’. His periphery of the plastic music genre is highly experienced. The young producer injects naturalistic elements into the untamed environment for a shapeshifting, living and breathing entropy.

The multi-faceted and multi-instrumentalist pursues a looser and oilier, more limber and dangerous approach to intelligent electronica. His synths perspire with glutenous, full sounds on every track—telling a story in their own formative way. Instrumental music may seem difficult to envision a story, but Corduroy Boy not only does that, he reinvents the wheel. ‘Structure’ lets its surrounding cultural context envelope—rather than it trying to struggle out, it submits and brings the wider world of sounds into itself.

Opening up simple enough, Into eschews calculated arpeggiations with intricate percussion whips. Corduroy Boy is putting the feelers out there. The song eventually crawls all over you—its needle point, tactile synths stick to your skin before sharply dropping off into Loop. As the name suggests, the enigmatic and highly atmospheric track doesn’t shift much in terms of melody but retains a progressive urgency to it.

Much of the psychical space is flirted with throughout the EP, though Corduroy Boy only dishes it out in calculated doses. Diva is one of those spoon fulls. It’s a moving and epic piece that hurdles along on molten core guitar lines. The bass line, sitting underneath, is like the bubbling, breathing volcano—it waits patiently to erupt but not until all the elements are all right. Knobs is another track which demonstrates comradery between the real and manufactured worlds of music. Again delving into heaving guitar licks, the track billows into own washed up wave—as it crawls in and out of its sonic flourishes. It speaks to Corduroy Boy’s near-coastal hometown.

Slo-Mo proves Corduroy Boy is waiting for bigger, better things. This track is large. It paints an immaculate picture—that of visceral rhythms and ambient landscapes. Through its five minutes, it transitions from bludgeoning noise and percussion into hovering dreams—something Jon Hopkins perfects in his work. Out Of closes the EP and begs the question whether Corduroy Boy could soon rival, well, Rival Consoles? The melodies on display are warm and emotive—he makes so much out of so little.

Each song is an animating, skittering and reflective moment. Joining together as a whole, which each track can stand on its own, ‘Structure’ is a demonstrated lesson in musical euphoria and restraint in equal measure.

Stream ‘Structure’ below.