Ambient Electro
Hard to pigeonhole, Leeds-based band Unfinished Drawings’ latest EP is a mixture of electronic beats and sighing vocals which have a slightly tendency to lull the listener into a trance-like state. The band use electronic samples mixed with acoustic guitars for an interesting sound, although sometimes this just ends up sounding a tad wishy-washy.
Opener, ‘Eloquently Forced’ is interesting enough but unfortunately outstays its welcome a little, lasting for 4 and a half minutes when 3 would have certainly given it more punch and prevented the listener’s attention from wandering.
‘Dreaming’ features pattering beats against soft backing with an ethereal glaze, before some more driven, pop beats kick in and up the pace. ‘Nobody Knows It’ has a beautiful chorus that blossoms from nowhere and takes you by surprise, and it’s a pleasant one at that, with electronic glory flowing over you. ‘Verdana’ doesn’t show quite as much flourish or style as the font, and might feature some trippy beats, but largely fails to take them anywhere productive.
Unfinished Drawings have enough interesting ideas to create good experimental pieces of music, but they lack strong melodies, which could transform the music into something memorable. There’s plenty of potential here, but it just needs a little tweak here and there to give the songs a real strength.