Futurecop! - Voltrana

Futurecop!
Voltrana
2019
Spotify

Listening to Futurecop! is an experience. More so than a lot of other music Futurecop! tries, and succeeds, to take you to new far flung places where time, space and everything is different. It's almost like an 80s movie that was somehow transported into the future of some far off world where color and sound dominates. Each track is a new journey through this world, and each time it is different. This is of course not the first record to try and transport you to some other place, but Futurecop! just manages to do it a bit better than anyone else. He manages to create this wonderful builds and then pay them off taking you down roller coasters of emotion. "Star" is a track that just gets bigger and bigger with each passing second until finally it bursts at the seams and the vocal is completely overtaken by sound. Then as if out of no where this blasting guitar riff comes screaming through. It's the kind of music that if there was any justice in the world would be blasting as neon lights streak across the sky. It isn't just about synths and far away places, on this album Futurecop! start to explore some more ethereal meditations. Not only does Futurecop! want to put you into a different place, He wants to shift your consciousness as well. These aren't just cheesy dance songs, though there is a bit of that on tracks like "Leslie Cheung", they have much more life and a distinct pop sensibility that keeps everything moving forward. 

"Zen 4040" manages to find this spot that is almost transformative in nature. It begins normally but then each new layer progresses the song ever forward, constantly seeking and reaching for something you can't see, but you can feel means something. Now the one thing about Futurecop! is the albums are not short. Song lengths, albums lengths there is almost zero consideration for being brief. It allows the album to expand, shift and change, but it also makes it feel really long. This record in particular is sort of extended with the tracks featuring vocals. It sucks you out of the atmospheric soundscape that they normally create and puts you into a more pop head space. It doesn't entirely fit in with the theme. The album as a whole however sails far into the universe, or maybe even the future who really knows. Futurecop! as always have something interesting to say, and something interesting to show us. At least they are one of a kind.

7.9 out of 10