Decommissioned Forests - Drop Brick

One of the major complaints I had about my first outing with Decommissioned Forests, that being a review of their single ‘Ants Part 1’, has not changed. And that’s the fact that in their latest single ‘Drop Brick’, the spoken word voice absolutely dominates the mix. I do not listen to a whole lot of spoken word vocals, but one song that I can compare this to would be Anne Clark’s ‘Killing Time’. Both centered around avant-garde music, but in Clark’s ‘Killing Time’ her voice is but another instrument in the mix and plays beautifully with the electronic elements. Decommissioned Forests has yet to find that delicate balance and therefore the spoken word mantra doesn’t work that well for me. 

The backing synth in this song is on repeat for the five-minute and thirty-nine second duration as well. It’s a very simple, organ-sounding rhythm that seems to consist of three or four notes. No matter what words are spoken or what samples are played on top of it, it’s always there. This simple rhythm makes the song no less than a chore to get through. There are several points of noise thrown into the track for good measure as well; the texture work is fine enough, but it’s not enough to flip the song around. 

With all that being said, ‘Drop Brick’ is not a single I can recommend to most folk. It is rather bland and does not illicit a response from me other than hoping it will end soon. Which is never a good case. Perhaps shorter songs are in order so the repetitive nature isn’t as obvious. Either that, or Decommissioned Forests needs to provide a decent amount of variation in their tracks. Lastly, the mixing needs an overhaul, most notably with the vocals. They’re too up front and, again, dominate the mix. With all that being said, I give this a three-and-a-half out of ten.