Sleep in a Synchotron by Color Filter (Review)

Super slick, super sweet drum and bass that sounds like it was recorded in someone’s living room.
Sleep in a Synchotron, Color Filter

Color Filter is a drum and bass project from Ryuji Tsuneyoshi. It’s super slick, super sweet drum and bass that sounds like it was recorded in someone’s living room. There’s a real intimate, pleasant quality to this entire recording, which is incredibly evident in the first track “Stars Above You.” Laid back beats and washed out vocals are mixed with soft keyboard treatments and string melodies. Imagine my delight and surprise to hear acoustic guitars on this album, something I wasn’t really expecting.

However, Tsuneyoshi blends them in quite nicely with the mix, which adds a natural, maybe “folky” feel to the songs. “Children of Summer” could have easily been off of Flowchart’s wonderful Cumulus Mood Twang. Acoustic guitars mix with breathy, sugary female vocals courtesy of Aiko (Lucy Van Pelt), and when the “Sense”-era Lightning Seeds-esque chorus kicks in, it’s a beautiful thing. The album lags a little bit in the middle (with a cover of “Satellite Of Love”), but it’s all back to sweetness and smiles with “Let Me Sleep.” We’re treated with another dose of Aiko’s winsome vocals, singing over what sounds like a drum and bass version of Switched-On Bach.

Tsuneyoshi manages to create a nice, dense atmosphere throughout the entire album. Each track is nicely layered and full of bliss and charm. All in all, this is quite a nice piece of work. Fans of the aforementioned Cumulus Mood Twang will want to check this out.

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