Eyes of Others – ‘Eyes Of Others’ album review
This week, Eyes of Others, the studio alias of Edinburgh-based artist John Bryden, releases its eponymous debut album. The humble creative demonstrates the full scope of his influence pool in this debut album, posing a smorgasbord of delectable styles to ripple the waters.
“I was thinking, where’s my spot?” Bryden reflects on Eyes Of Others in a new press release. “The music is later than a gig, but it’s not full-on early morning club fare. It’s the in-between space where I was imagining where my music works. Maybe there aren’t enough venues opening at 7am! I don’t think it will catch on, unfortunately.”
Indeed, Eyes of Others is an audacious debut venture packed with exciting twists and turns and an engaging style blend. For those who collect vinyl and want a record to play through in a sustained mood without skipping tracks, fear not; the album carries a relatively consistent tone. Side one is well suited to those who enjoy dreamy and distant dance beats from a reclined position, while side two adds a little spice to the recipe for a more club-worthy trance excursion.
‘Once, Twice, Thrice’ kicks the LP off on a shimmering down-tempo trajectory befitting of a FIFA game soundtrack. The sound is sparse at this juncture, led primarily by a peacefully synthesised marimba melody and drum track indicative of a toe-dip in the album’s deep bath. The vocals detach into a dreamscape before the more grounding yet familiar surroundings of ‘Safehouse’ and ‘Escalation’.
‘At Home I am a Leader’ gradually lifts us into third gear. “I looked into the larder and found a bar of chocolate/ I stuffed it in my big fat gob and thought never after of it,” Bryden raps with comic abandon. As we cruise toward the centre of the track, Bryden employs acid sounds to pose a psychedelic facade worthy of the trippy cow that emblazons the record sleeve.
After our acid excursion, Bryden again grounds us with ‘New Hair New Me’. The song comes like a bolt from the blue, beckoning nostalgic visions of summer days in the 1970s. As the title and Mungo Jerry energy suggest, the track is boundlessly optimistic and carefree, preparing us in no way for gear five.
‘Ego Hit’ arrives as the first genuinely danceable track on the album. Remaining ironically tethered to the farm animal in the album cover, Bryden maintains a psychedelic element but begins incorporating the trance style that permeates much of the second side. In ‘I Feel Love’, Donna Summer walked so Bryden could run.
‘Jargon Jones and Jones’ harkens back to the placating tones of the album’s first chapter and undoubtedly marks one of the mellower highlights. This brief respite sends us unwittingly back into the trance party that smoulders through the final two tracks ‘Come Inside’ and ‘Big Companies, Large Tentacles’.
Eyes Of Others is a vibrantly uncompromising sonic odyssey with virtues many and vices few. Bryden has stretched his legs into several musical styles binding the package with a psychedelic ribbon emblemised by the technicolour cover cow. The music on this album shows just how far music has evolved over the past 50 years with the hippy nostalgia of ‘New Hair New Me’ and its more contemporary post-club musings. Where lyrical depth fails to penetrate, entrancing composition and comprehensive texture prevail.
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