MitiS - 'Til the End

MitiS

'Til the End

2018

Spotify

Going into this debut record from American electronic producer MitiS I really had no idea what to expect. I kept the reading to a minimum. wanting to experience the album as a blank slate. I mean look at that album art, how could you not want to see what this thing had in store for you. The albums opens with the title track, that is little more than a three minute intro creating this swirling ethereal vaporwave lite experience. That doesn't last long as "Away" drops you into the more EDM qualities of this record. "Away" featuring vocals from Gioto, sounds like Porter Robinson meets pop. It's not as glitchy or hard as the music Porter makes giving it this lighter more accessible touch. Things get a bit worse from there however as the album ticks more and more basic EDM boxes. "Moments" both lyrically and structurally is a damn near carbon copy of what EDM has been doing for years.: slow build, big drop, female vocals about taking back the night. It really gives you nothing new even with the really sweet vocal. It is just a song that has been done so damn much at this time trying to re-create it is always doomed to failure. It even has similar pacing to a lot of other EDM songs, leaving little room for surprise or mystery. The monotony continues on "By My Side" which is an almost carbon copy of "moments" with just a swap on the vocalist. If you are going to make songs like these you need to make sure they are fucking massive and push the genre forward, because if they drag like many of these do your album is never going to get off the ground. 

The tracks without vocals have a bit more punch. "Reconnect" uses the chopped up vocals of MaHi, but they are used far more as an electronic instrument rather than pure vocals. It's a welcome break from the sameness that came before it and actually turns the volume up. "Your Revolution" which MitiS is calling an interlude, but it really does absolutely nothing for the album but put this big ol road block right in the middle of it. If there was a reason for an intro, interlude and outro on an 11 track album I sure has hell haven't found it yet. PartyNails features on perhaps the weakest track on the whole album, leaving little to no impact which is quite disheartening. Nothing makes an impact from there and each new track feels like something that just had to be done rather than truly inspired music. "Embers" the last full track on the albums has vocals that don't even synch up with the beat, totally befuddling the listener. Maybe there is someone out there who will be into this, but even if this album came out in EDM's heyday i doubt it would have broken through. For now it's a day late and far more than a dollar short. 

3.7 out of 10