Fire Inside

Gemini's "Fire Inside" is an improvement over his last EP, however it still has its fair share of production issues and uninspired writing. A couple tracks here sound barely mastered at times which really drags the overall project down which I think is a shame because there's some solid stuff here. I really wanted this project to succeed but it really sounds like it could have used more time cooking.

Opening with the title track as per usual for Gemini we're met by a solid electro house tune. With great guest vocals from Greta Svabo Bech, this tune is actually a lot of fun and I would dare say is Gemini's best track up to this point. The mix isn't perfect and sounds a little flat but I can definitely look past that here. The main electro house drop is great and the heavier switch-up just goes over so well. It's definitely worth a couple spins!

No Way Out is a bit messy. Opening this track it doesn't sound too bad but I'd say that's on account of the more reserved opening. The drop however is a mess. Behind the muddy mixing it's not half bad, but the awful mix really hampers this one. It so poorly mastered that is honestly sounds like a rough demo with a repeated drop that's only there as a placeholder. If given the KOAN Sound Remaster treatment this could end up being pretty good but as is this is not great.

To The World to me sounds almost like an early Modestep track. This is a proper heavy drop, however I can't help but feel like something's missing. I'm not sure if this is poor mixing holding this one back again but the drop is just rumbling bass with a couple of claps and the odd vocal sample and synth lick here and there. This is repeated for a total of 4 almost identical drops. The bridge halfway though the track has these deep stabs which sound interesting and could have led to a fun switch-up but it goes nowhere. This could have been half the runtime and nothing would have been lost. It's not bad, but I feel like it could have been so much more.

Lastly from this EP with have "Nothingness" which is a fitting track title because nothing is happening here. We open with a sombre piano. The tone is set and it's moody. And then we get a slow drum beat alongside the piano and the occasional random sounds here and there. And then that's it. This is a whimper of an ending. This is a dull and uninspired soundscape that does all of nothing for its 3 minute run time. My first time listening to this I was waiting for something to happen and then the track just ended out of nowhere. It ends with who I assume is Gemini whispering "nothing left" which yeah cool you did it you made a nothing track.

The best way to describe Fire Inside is a great single with 3 sub par filler tracks tacked on to make this an EP. Interviewed by Knowledgeable Magazine in 2011, Gemini said that his first EP "Blue" came about after first submitting "Feel Stronger" as a single to Inspector Dubplate in 2010 then submitting a new single a bit later in "Blue", flipping an upcoming single release by a yet to be conceived Inspected Records to make that the feature track. "And You" and "Rise & Fall" were written last and just put in as "a nice transition" to build the EP into what it came out as. To me it feels like Gemini has forced this pattern onto this EP. Fire Inside as a single is a great tune, but the EP as a whole is bogged down by seemingly rushed tracks just to fill out runtime to make what was originally a single turn into a 4 track EP.