Birmingham's Syncopatient, I Present - EP review
There are plenty of electro fanatics in the Birmingham and wider area area who will remember the days when Godskitchen and Sundissential were regular outings to get their dance fix.
They may be memories in the distant past for most, although some places admirably try to keep the scene going as best they can.
But for 2020 a new name - born in Shard End but now booming out of Erdington - is adding to the Second City's dance offering with the release of his new EP, I Present.
His name is Syncopatient, and he records and produces everything himself at home to give it a completely DIY feel - even a collaboration with fellow artist Lyc0.
Syncopatient is 20-year-old Dominic Newcombe, who has mixed eras and sounds with a crisp and confident finish to make the EP feel timeless and hard to pigeon hole. There's house in there, some big trance numbers too, and a healthy dose of 'chart'. And while the BDM count is on the lower end of the scale, the hard-hitting, face-slapping beats keep things ticking along nicely.
The biggest tracks here are the aptly named Elevate and Combustion.
The former feels like an airy trance hit of yesteryear. The kind of light-hearted vibe that would go down well in the late afternoon at Ocean Beach in Ibiza as everyone begins gearing themselves up for the big night ahead. Synths brush in and out of focus as the beats keep time for a light-hearted, sun-kissed trip.
Combustion is altogether different. Big-hitting and full of pounding rhythm, this is very much the late-night pinnacle of the 'big night out' as all the elements come together to create a thumping cacophony of noise that will get anyone moving.
See The Stars follows suit with it's high-pitched melody pulling us along with ease, and the deep beats of Eyes On Me hit the eardrums hard.
And there's the slower moments, too. What If, with Lyc0, is one of the softer, poppiest moments on the EP - if it can be called an EP when it's 10 tracks and half-an-hour long. While Moving On creates a big wall of electro sound that, minus some big beats, is more therapeutic than corrosive.
Rating: 7/10
Syncopatient can be found on Twitter @SyncoMusicUK and Facebook @syncopatientmusic, and the EP can be heard on his Spotify page.
