Genesys

The man who blew the top off EDM with his mindboggling live visuals has taken the opportunity presented by his sudden burst of success to release his debut album. Believe me when I say this album has certainly not blown the top off EDM.

I'll be the first to admit that — even without having gone to one of his shows — Anyma's live audiovisual experience is breathtaking. Having been the first electronic artist to ever be booked at the famed Las Vegas Sphere, Anyma has captivated EDM listeners across the globe. But after listening to "Genesys", I've come to the conclusion that it's probably not the music that's captivated people, because, in a casual setting, this tracklist ironically bores me rather quickly. "Genesys" is — as the cover art suggests — an industrial, almost corporate take on melodic techno, a synth-imbued warping of an already minimal genre that thrives on deep kicks and progressive atmospheres. Layered over dark basslines are crystally synth leads, uniformly and rigidly adhering to their swirling structures, ready to take over if a vocalist is not present. Over and over again. Every. Single. Time. The style is perhaps intriguing upon beginning the first track, and perhaps the second or third, but you very quickly realize that Anyma has absolutely no plans to switch it up — and, lo and behold, he never does. Every track follows the same structure of linear progression across uncannily similar sound design, both in the melodic synth lead lines and the rumbling techno backdrops, for an entire 55 minutes of runtime — trust me, that's a long time — in which the only thing that really changes is which vocalist is on which track. The industrial robotic atmosphere quickly shifts to background noise and paying attention becomes an active battle after hearing tracks that refuse to change their lead melody save for the lackluster progression permeated by pockets of silence that last just long enough to be slightly uncomfortable, slightly memorable, and a little confusing as to why they're put there. I suspect "Genesys" would work phenomenally well as a live experience, given the monstrous visuals Anyma commandeers, but as it stands as an independent work of art, this is really nothing special.

Perhaps Anyma is a mammoth spectacle to witness live, but without visuals, "Genesys" feels exposed and vulnerable and rather weak as a result. This is certainly a different style of art, one that synchronizes visuals and audio to a magnificent level, but unfortunately that style does not appeal to the album listener like myself, and so "Genesys", as a standalone piece of music, falls very flat.