19) Exercises EP - CFCF (TOP 20 OF 2012)

Exercises EP

CFCF

Paper Bag Records.

Original SCQ Review.

In 2009 Mike Silver wouldn’t have been a wise candidate for keeping electronic music firmly in its shoes. His debut Continent had engorged itself with a taste of everything the electronic music scene brought to the buffet, espousing chillwave, downtempo, IDM, the lot. This year’s Exercises EP not only matches the Mike Silver I’ve seen spinning, diligently reserved, in the trendier lounges of Montreal, it inverts CFCF’s adventurousness from of-the-moment chic to 70s futurism with a post-classical bent. It feels truer to electronic music's past without getting trapped in the kitsch.

What makes this newfound dry approach work is how Silver’s electronics and piano work never fully enmesh; the old-school analogs coinciding with his traditional compositions the way vines curl around woodwork. Complimenting the record cover, Exercises EP finds two different scales fleshing out an architecture hollow but reliable, small in stature but deeply impressionable.

Exercises - CFCF

Exercises

CFCF

Paper Bag Records.

SCQ Rating: 81%

2009’s Continent felt at once out of time and perfectly suited to the year’s turning fashions: Balaeric, old school analog beats and even some hints of chill-wave. The concoction fit together like a twelve-piece puzzle but in the absence of an oversized ego, CFCF mastermind Michael Silver’s grab-bag of influences almost came off as too easy, too slick. Even now, the records best moments – arguably some of the best electronic gems heard in 2009 – battle against neighbouring songs that, while just as mature, seem to dilute Continent’s overall statement.

Michael Silver needed a bigger persona in order to pass off Continent’s ambitions as more than simple generosity. Here, on Exercises, the trappings of artistic ego fall in Silver’s favour. The 24-year-old beatsmith remains as veiled behind his compositions as before but with a tighter, low-key focus, this new album nails a special chemistry. Democratically split between Philip Glass styled piano explorations and Gamelan-tinged electronic pieces, Exercises works on a higher level emotionally than its predecessor – and in roughly half of the run-time.

Traces of his other influences remain, and he’s reached back into early synthesizer tones for a few early 80s documentary vibes, but ultimately beat-oriented tracks like “Exercise 2 (School)” and “Exercise 8 (Change)” borrow unique character from their cautious neighbours. Occupied by tidy piano chords and thick swathes of synth, “Exercise 1 (Entry)” and “Exercise 6 (December)” seem skybound, with Silver’s ivories descending like snowflakes against a black canvas. The mini-album’s sure to flex its approach enough to supply at least one stunner – “Exercise 5 (September)”, complete with subdued vocals and a gliding momentum – but it acts less like a dancefloor hit than a euphoric centerpiece to an otherwise somber walk through town.