Released
February 1999

Label
Independent/Demo
Material

Reviewed by
Kim Alexander

Contact
Ego Likeness

Visit


Last Edit/Update
08 July, 1999

Songs From A Dead City

egolikeness: portraiture reproduced through a shigawire
projector that is capable of reproducing movements
said to convey the ego essence.
James Herbert, "Dune" 1965

Bringing together the programming, deejaying skills of Steve Archer, with the classical training of Donna Lynch, "Ego Likeness" opens the door on personal
soundtracks. Both founding members of the band "Seraphim Gate", Steve and Donna felt the need to personalize the music experience as much as they
could, and out of this came "Ego Likeness"  Both members pull quite heavily from their various disciplines, Steve, his 10 years of deejaying
and music construction, and Donna from her combined
18 years of classical piano, and opera.

"Songs From A Dead City" is made up of very personal music, combining elements of trip hop, (Massive Attack, Portishead) industrial (Doubting Thomas, Skinny Puppy) and classical to form a tight package of music and
images one will soon not forget. [Taken from Ego Likeness web site.]
Ego Likeness is
Steve Archer: Sequencing, Loops, Music Vox on 1, 5, 6.
Donna Lynch: Music, Vox on 2, 3, 5, 7.

Track Listing

1. Bourbon St 4am
2. Release
3. Emerge
4. Underpass
5. The Thaw
6. Whole (Cold Version)
7. Theme From The Gorkey Maze
8. After The Rain
9. Bourbon St 4am (sunrise mix)

     The demo begins with "Bourbon St 4am" comprised of growling effects, a deep gurgling of sounds, a layer of piano (keys), a comfortable swishy drum/bass rhythm with intermittent deep vox fx vocals and a gentle layer of synth atmosphere. "Release" continues on with more of that "swishy" deep drum & bass, slow yet dancey beat, female vox and a minimal keyboard melody with looping. A very peaceful track, "When I die, I will come back...I will die a horrible firery death."Puppy" and "Doubting Thomas' influences here perhaps?
    "Emerge" winds its way though lyrics and scratchy synth, samples and loops, female vox and a soft beat, whereas "Underpass", the only instrumental on the release, is slow in tempo, eerie in sound, loops whirring gently over the drumming with a classical piano-like melody. Really a nice track. More deep male/female vox work (which have a spooky effect on the entire release, quite tasty), minimal drumming, rattle/bell-chime-like effects and almost a gothic-edge quality to the timbre and song composition. This track reminds me a tad of some early work by "Xorcist", but slower.
    A mello yet semi-militant beat with dream-like male vocals and a warm melody sets off "Whole...", whereas the focus changes a bit in "Theme From The Gorkey Maze" to a more melodic ambient, drums, wavey, sawing, gurgling synth programming, keys, and vocal (sampled?), "I can explain, I can explain, I can explain everything. It was a set up from the start...It wasn't meant for anyone to get hurt. It was all part of the plan...The blind leading the blind leading the blind...Do you think anyone knows what happens here? Do you think anyone understands or cares?" with Donna on haunting vox. Excellent track!
    "Ego Likeness" is clearly a step above the electro-synth genre with their original compositions on "Songs From A Dead City." Tracks are overall interesting and catchy ambient drum and bass. Tasty synth, unusual loops and programming with minimalist background does in fact lead me to listen to this release on a very regular basis! (And yes I take it with me in the auto!)