Darkstar - Foam Island

Darkstar
Foam Island
2015

Things can occasionally be deep or meaningful because of an emotional connection that they create. However every now and again something seems important just because it is. That is what Darkstar's third album Foam Island is, important in and of itself. The album features clips from every day people going about their lives wrapped up in rumbling tones and punctuated with a song. The stories the people tell range from heartbreaking to joyous and everywhere in between. There is a connection that is made with the listener almost immediately when you hear these people speak and it makes the actual music feel more valuable. On it's own the songs are a bit plain and quite repetitive but the fact that they are coming of the heels of these stories really adds substance. This record feels like a slice of one particular time in the world, almost serving as a history book more than a music album. The music itself falls more on the art pop side of things even hinting at electropop on songs like "Go Natural", but the rhythm is so varied and songs so experimental there is almost no way to determine where a song might go next.

At times Foam Island is hard to listen to, because of it's experimental nature. Nothing is predictable or even remotely the norm. If you are looking for something to groove to or really sit back and enjoy this album is not the one for you. It seeks to make you think, it wants to challenge you and it won't let up until something is changed. A political and historical statement wrapped up in a package that you have never seen before. One issue with the album is the thinness of the vocal, there is absolutely no round tones on the entire record which gives it a light touch but also creates a grading high pitched sound that eventually begins to wear on you. There really is the main weakness of the album, it is so artistic that it becomes alienating, you have to push and push just to get through the music which is never a great thing for an album. Despite that however Foam Island really is something beautiful and interesting, a work of a moment in time and existing just slightly out of it.

6.9 out of 10