Between Surface

This wasn't quite what I was expecting from Glume & Phossa's debut album. Phossa's chirpy and sunny style reigns over the entire project and I was hoping for a nice blend of both the deep and menacing as well as the upbeat and cheerful. Now is this necessarily a bad thing? No, I wouldn't say so. The problem I have sadly is that most of the runtime the tracks come off as very one dimensional and lack any real impact.

"Open" is the intro to the album and first hearing this I was very concerned. This sounds more like a morning alarm to wake up to. It's not a good introduction to the project and honestly only serves to put me off.

The next two tracks are fine. I do like the chirpy sound design but these tracks don't really go anywhere. "Love Lost" feels like a meander of a track, slowly walking along to its own beat. "Close Enough" has some more rhythm to it which I enjoy but the final result just doesn't quite grab me.

We then get "Four", a track four interlude. I like the soundscape of this one quite a bit but the placement on first glance is weird. It's the only interlude in the project and it comes on track four? After an intro and 2 proper tracks? This would serve as a way better intro than "Open" in my opinion so I wasn't sure what was going on. But then I looked at the vinyl track list and realised it's the end of Side A where suddenly things made a lot more sense. It's nice.

Then we get to the next two tracks, "Still Here" and "Wires Crossed". At this point things are really starting to feel formulaic. Again one dimensional but now it feels like things are losing steam.

But then we get "Eclipse" and oh boy the magic is coming back! Finally a track with some real impact and movement! I love the deeper sound employed here whilst still keeping some of that chiming production. This feels like a perfect blend of both Glume and Phossa and is an absolute standout track!

"Land On Head Land On Feet" is another tune that I feel like doesn't really go anywhere, almost being an interlude in a way. But "Diamond" is another solid tune! It's not on par with a lot of the stuff that Glume and Phossa has put out but it's still great! Still following the plucky sound design that's been used throughout this entire project there actually feels like there's some depth to this one! There's a rhythm sound that crops up throughout the track that reminds me of the sound made when throwing something in Super Smash Bros which makes me laugh.

By "Cycles" however I'm starting to get bored with this project sadly. The final 4 tracks of this project are really not grabbing me at all. I appreciate what "Unrest" is going for as it sounds like a take on some modern Burial but I don't think it hits. By "At The Surface" I'm already wanting to move on from this project. "Something She Said" as a closer also really doesn't do anything for me and honestly any track here could have ended the project.

I wanted to like this project so bad. I was very excited by the concept of not only a Glume & Phossa LP but a White Peach LP. I'm not really sure what the direction and idea behind this project was but I don't think it lands sadly. Maybe I was expecting too much? I was hoping for a mix of stuff like their white label release of Puppetz and some of the big impact stuff like from Buried or Banshee alongside stuff like Touch and Phossa's "Close2". But the project here just feels like it's lacking energy. It's possible the duo bit off more than they could chew with a full LP. It feels almost like the energy levels that they would pump into a 4 track EP has ben stretched incredibly thin on a 13 track LP. I'm not expecting 13 tracks of heavy hitting UK Dubstep, honestly I don't think that would go down well. The problem I have is everything sounds so one note, like this project is merely going through the motions.