The Host--producer Barry Lynn's (aka Boxcutter) new alias--works in a spacey interzone, using vintage gear to create dramatic panoramas for the headphoned mind. His unique suite of modern impressionistic sonics tumble and waft in and out of the mix, grounded with strong melodies that take inspiration from net-age genres while never recalling them directly. Throughout this self-titled debut album, vintage synths, drum machines and reverbs are exploited to their fullest potential, while guitar and bass explore a sound that sets apart The Host from producers working on computers, creating something much more like an actual band but rich with lively micro-detail. Opening track "Neo-Geocities" is full of drifting synths and distorted drum-machine toms reminiscent of a jerry-rigged footwork style; "Angel Fire" melts muted guitar and gentle keys into haywire 808 rhythms; "Internet Archaeology" dubs hazy melodies, tape edits and bass guitar into murky but uplifting melodic shapes. "Hidden Ontology" riffs majestically over arpeggiated synths, while "3AM Surfing" and "Summer Solstice at Cape Canaveral" savor the quiet moments after a good night out. "Rainy Sequences / Phosphene Patterns" is a dense and ecstatic blur of sound, coalescing into a pretty guitar melody weaving through the lush noise, and the pastoral drift of "Aeontology" is best appreciated while horizontal. Closing with the delicate and exquisitely detailed spring mood of the gentle "Birthday Bluebells," The Host introduces a focused and unique artist with a strong debut.
