There's still affection to be found for Without Your Love, even if it is entombed in a cavernous demonic ribcage buried deep underground; this isn't going to be the kind of party-startin', rip-roarin' thrill ride to pre-drink to.
In Without Your Love he shows that he’s evolved from sinister experimentalist to a creator of powerful and highly original songs.
If you’re a fan of melted inversions of pop tropes then there’s ephemeral thrills for the taking here. If nothing else, it’s proof that the king of all flash-in-the-pan fads ought not to be written off just yet.
While there are certainly times on Without Your Love where Greenspan’s over-application of eerie temperaments and lofty layers of sampling can start to drag ... these rarely detract from what is, at its core, a fascinating, contemplative and forward-thinking collection.
While oOoOO doesn’t display the sheer discomfiting power of a Haxan Cloak, the emotive abilities of a Balam Acab, or the rhythmic intensity of an Evian Christ, Without Your Love pulls from all of them and leaves with a solid, worthwhile listen.
There’s no doubt that ‘Without Your Love’ is a difficult listen. You can be left feeling drained and exhausted after listening. What is clear, though, that if you give yourself over to it it is incredibly rewarding.
While, overall, this is the strongest collection we’ve seen from oOoOO, it’s still difficult to tell what direction he’s trying to lead us in.
On this, his first album proper, Dexter is basically in much the same position as all the other bedroom-production schmoes, tinkering with the same cracked software.
While the sound pallet here is beautiful and the atmosphere it builds up is dark and empty in an alluring way. Almost every track here is so bare bones with little to nothing in the way of memorable content.
Best songs: The South
Meh songs: Sirens, Stay Here, 3; 51 A.M., Without Your love, On It, Crossed Wires, Mouchette, Misunderstood, 5; 51 A.M., Across a Sea
Worst songs:
light 3/10
(Trying to review something everyday for the rest of the year)
Day: 128
While this album’s sound is nice, it really drags that sound for too long. This album’s tracks most times feel really incomplete and sound like the first 8-16 bars were just looped, but the tracks on here that fully flesh out are good on here, one’s like “The South”, “Without Your Love”, or “Stay Here” sound good because they sound complete. Overall, the sound is nice, ... read more
don't confuse a surreal, dark, and candid atmosphere of ambience for a long and unfulfilling listen, great album.
1 | Sirens 4:42 | 45 |
2 | Stay Here 4:03 | 65 |
3 | 3; 51 A.M. 1:45 | 75 |
4 | Without Your Love 3:13 | 85 |
5 | On It 2:51 | 35 |
6 | Crossed Wires 2:35 | 23 |
7 | Mouchette 3:20 | 50 |
8 | The South 3:07 | 68 |
9 | Misunderstood 3:35 | 60 |
10 | 5; 51 A.M. 1:22 | 65 |
11 | Across A Sea 5:00 | 48 |