Night Marauder is the brand new album by Vector Hold aka Peter Brian Rice. The Californian has returned to compose, arrange, mix and master a 14 track collection of beautifully compelling songs. The record which was officially released on 21st July and is available now via Aphasia Records.
One or two reviews I’ve already read regarding Night Marauder have been mildly disappointing and refer to its sound as being overly melancholic. I mean, how dare a synth artist have the gall to release something a bit shadier during the summer months, right?!. Well I couldn’t disagree with these comments anymore, granted its overall tone is darker,but at no point was I left feeling lugubrious.
The record opens with, ‘I work alone’ which is a dreamy and gentle piece of music. It oozes a delicate mystery that is effective in capturing our attention, luring us deeper into its unexplored caverns. Following this short intro, we are immediately hit with the more pacier and livelier, ‘Gridlock’ which is strikingly different in contrast to the opener. I really enjoy it when artists take this approach, leading us in different directions and leaving us speculating at what may come next. Further into the album we are met with another serious shit kicker, ‘High Octane’, with its energetic and rumbustious presence. It screams out to be the soundtrack to a car chase and its inclusion in any of the Fast And The Furious movies, may have resulted in them being a lot less shitty. Other tracks like, ‘Analog Sunrise’ and ‘Avernus Dorsa’ crank up the intensity levels and may be the more provocative of the bunch, with ‘Avernus…’ mirroring the sound of uncertainty favoured in some of John Carpenter’s scores. Highlights for me were the fantastic ‘Pacific Skyline’ and ‘Rain keeps falling’, with both songs projecting their own optimistic charm, despite their obvious differences.
What Vector Hold has gifted to us is a range of brilliantly crafted electro synth songs and the end product offers a wide array of emotions and moods to experience. His undeniable and exciting approach to making music is clearly present within the unpredictable nature of Night Marauder and whether you’re familiar or unfamiliar with Rice’s previous work, you’ll definitely find something here to like.
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