To have your debut album adored by critics is quite risky, you know. All of a sudden, people’s expectations are getting higher, and if your second release fails to reassure them you’re great, they will tear you apart and eat you alive.

Metaphorically, of course, have no fear. And yes, Memory Tapes is one of those artists. His debut album, Seek Magic, made everybody give him a warm round of applause – so there’s no mistake in saying that Player Piano, his sophomore, was highly expected.

“Psychedelic girl group music” – this is the description of the album, given by the artist himself. However, the sound is more likely to be labelled as “bubbly, friendly pop with a touch of melancholia”. This doesn’t mean Memory Tapes did nothing but rewrite the same song over and over and over again. It’s just that the main recipe is the same for most of the tracks: take a synth, play around with it, throw in occasionally some guitar and organ sounds and eerie vocals for taste and that’s it. To make the whole idea of cohesion even clearer, the album begins and ends with the same song, Musicbox, which sounds exactly like you would expect, given the title.

Random example of synth power: Wait in the Dark. The title might sound a bit creepy, but the song is far from being so. The synth line is definitely not something you can easily forget, and it gives the whole thing a really pleasant, warm feeling. This feeling will stick with you for the most part of the album, with a few exceptions. For example, Humming is a 2 minutes 46 seconds nostalgic mix of keyboard sounds with no vocals whatsoever (if you don’t count the choral a-a-ahs from the beginning), while Trance Sisters throws in catchy electronic rhythms which will make you want to move your body.

Player Piano might not touch the high hemispheres Seek Magic did, but it’s nevertheless a really good release – and if you’re interested to see how you can use and abuse a synth without being boring, then you should definitely put this album on your “I must listen to this” list.

~ Raluca Bicu