Arcane Roots - 'Landslide' EP Review

Tracklist:

1. Before Me

2. Matter

3. Landslide

4. Off The Floor

This EP is the first time I have consciously sat down and listened to the music of Arcane Roots, I therefore suspect that my review will not please long time devoted fans.

Did I enjoy this EP? If I’m honest I still can’t decide. The music at times feels ethereal, at other times there is to much of a disconnect between the vocal performance and the music. The songs rarely dragged me in and held my attention for the whole song. There are genuine moments of what felt like beauty in here, but they are not sustained.

It sounds to me that they have written the soundtrack to a movie without it being clear what that movie is about. What I can say is at the point they are sound-tracking it, its not a happy uplifting movie, Bollywood this isn’t. At one point the image that sprang to mind, is of the scene which you often get in movies where the heroine or hero is wrestling with their conscience or feelings while staring out of a rainy window while music plays in the background.

I think this may be my issue with the EP, there are some good ideas in there and at times the vocals really drew me in, but for long periods it felt like background music that never really grabbed my attention sufficiently.

I do think, if they wanted it, Arcane Roots have a future in writing cinematic or television scores for the kind of films and series that people become addicted to, there is an ability, that’s apparent from this EP, to write haunting music that could soundtrack the pivotal, non-action, scene.

I wanted to like this more than I did, I really did. But I still can’t decide if there’s enough in this EP to make me want to listen to it again.