REVIEW: Adventure - Lesser Known

Adventure - Lesser Known
MMM1/2

Adventure, the electronic project of Baltimore and Wham City resident Benny Boeldt, owes a lot to the electronica that was birthed in the ‘80s. Lesser Known, his second full-length, ditches the 8-bit, electronic frame of Adventure’s self-titled debut in favor of pop hooks and more dynamic, profound – not to mention dance floor-ready – electropop songs.

And while Boeldt has added vibrancy and pop accessibility to his electronic compositions, there’s an unshakable impression that these songs could be suitable soundtrack material for utopian – and in some cases dystopian – science fiction films. Whether he’s repeatedly singing – as if it were a mantra to carry his soul over troubled times – “And this feels like heaven” (“Feels Like Heaven”) or looping a sample of a stern, cold voice directing us to “Relax the mind” (“Relax the Mind”), there is a sense of disillusionment that lies beneath the layers of synthesizer, as if Boeldt is taking a walk along the line that separates fiction from reality. The pairing of “Relax the Mind” into “Another World” calls to mind the yearning for a blissful, emotionally honest existent like that of Robert Duvall’s character in THX 1138.

It may be a subconscious action on Boeldt’s part, but Lesser Known indirectly feels like a representation of the relationship that technology, or the inanimate, has with humanity. Amidst the electronic blips, bleeps, clanks, and clicks is a soul journeying through a world that has seen humanity overrun and distracted by its ever-evolving technology. Whether he’s singing about starting over with a clean slate (“Another World”) or finding and trying to understand love (“Smoke and Mirrors”), Boeldt reflects the trials and tribulations of our modern world while producing his very own world; synthesizers are just his building blocks.

Here, Boeldt demonstrates a keen sense of pace, as he never allows his beats and textures to become stagnant. By throwing in a swell, oscillation, or additional synthesizer riff or chord, he maintains a natural yet appealing progression with his songs, cutting them off before they ever feel as though they are dragging along. And while songs like “Open Door” and “Lights Out” are prime material to inspire movement on the dance floor, Lesser Known’s tracks are not at all empty shells for a hedonistic good time; no, these are songs that are a yin and yang of introspective ruminations – never overbearing – and feelgood electropop attitude.

“Feels Like Heaven” recalls Kraftwerk with its network of interacting synthesizers and punctual, cold clank of a snare drum. As the swirling synth line enters and Boeldt starts his mantra-like singing, the song becomes more of a groove-based ethereal jam that aims to captures the multicolored beauty of a setting sun’s light reflected through the chemicals that permeate the open sky. “Rio” begins with a midi backbone, building towards a surge of unified synth riffs and talk box-affected vocals; it continues to build with a choir of synths singing a melody as it fades into the ether. “Electric Eel” is the album’s longest song at just over seven minutes, sliding and slithering along rather unassumingly until it breaks into a striking, almost cacophonous burst of a chorus that feels not unlike the electrical shock of the song’s namesake.

The only drawback of the album is found on “Feels Like Heaven”, “Lights Out”, “Relax the Mind”, and “Another World”, which are actually some of the most well-composed songs. On these particular tracks, Boeldt favors looping or repeating one or two lines of lyrics – or in the case of “Lights Out” and “Relax the Mind” a sample – which certainly fit the style of approach, but might benefit from additional lyrics. The progression of the music can get held up at times, specifically on “Feels Like Heaven” and “Another World” where Boeldt is singing the same lines throughout.

Lesser Known is, for lack of a better word, an adventure. Relying heavily on synthesizer can occasionally cause an album to feel a bit one-dimensional, but Boeldt never allows that to happen here. The synthesizer is Boeldt’s acoustic guitar, and he can certainly craft compelling songs – ones that take on a sort of symphonic feel for their orchestrated synthesizers. The full potential of his composing and arranging skills might not yet be completely evident, but the progression from Adventure’s self-titled to Lesser Known clearly proves that Boeldt is one of the few electronic artists to keep an ear on. An adventure is defined as an exciting experience, and this album can be just that.

Lesser Known is out now on Carpark Records. Pick it up on Amazon, Amazon MP3, iTunes, or direct from Carpark here.