- August saw the release of two new Zomby records, but the lion's share of attention was focused on the One Foot Ahead of the Other double-pack for Ramp, Zomby's deepest retreat yet into the increasingly narrow musical agenda he's lately pursued. But if you felt that One Foot demanded a bit of scratching beneath the surface to fully appreciate, then this rigorously minor, five-and-a-half minute 10-inch for Brainmath, spirited into shops at roughly the same time, is both simpler and more immediate, and offers two of Zomby's loveliest and most "songful" sides to date.
With their unfussy rhythms and spare settings, these tracks sound far less agitated or spindly than anything from One Foot. The cyclical 8-bit melodies Zomby favors—succinctly described by RA's Oli Marlow as "'game over' melodies"—bring their dizzy whirls to both sides of the record, but this time there's an inescapably wistful air. "Digital Flora," especially, forgoes the delirious arpeggios for starker keyboard phrases, shifting the focus from sequencing to the personality of his Atari sounds, which sound strikingly resonant and full here. That richness is also abundant on "Digital Fauna," the video game bleeps ranging from warm hums to digital shimmers to delicate tinkles. For those concerned that there wasn't any more to this Atari palette, this peek at Zomby's more contemplative side delivers a pretty stiff rebuttal.
Tracklist A Digital Flora
B Digital Fauna