lofter - Ulcer

Arman and CJ are lofter, an industrial, noise, and punk duo who have just released their latest EP "Ulcer". Without getting into too much detail and skipping the get-to-know-you bullshit, I'm going to dive right into what I'm dealing with here. The first track on the album '...' isn't so much a song but more of an intro to the EP. Static noise and looping sequence makes up the forty second run of the song right before I was thrust into the first song on the album 'RUT'. Sticking to the DIY roots of the industrial and punk scenes, 'RUT' combines the uncomfortable raucous of noise into a beat-making machine. Arman's screaming sounds right at home among CJ's beats. That being said, I do believe that there is much room for improvement in terms of quality. 



Every sound on 'RUT' sounds as if it were given a separate attention to detail than one another. The bassline on the song sounds rather clear and well put together, while the guitars sound all too raw to match what's going on. Arman's vocals are also extremely distant in comparison to the rest of the song; it sounds as if the instruments are up front while Arman is a couple of rooms down the hall trying to sing along to whatever's going on in this one. I had much the same thoughts on 'YOUR LIFE', which once again has wonderful synthetic segments, but also had the vocal issues. I wasn't a huge fan of the squealing sound that appears in the song one too many times, either. 

'FADE' came in with a pretty good industrial beat once more, but I had the same issue with this song as I did the others. While the electronic elements continue to provide a clear sound, the guitars sound raw and unprocessed and Arman's shouting isn't helping anything out in the track. The last song on the EP is a cover of NIN's 'Terrible Lie'. This is lofter at their best; all the beats are fucking wicked as Hell. This is what lofter needs to become; a well balanced machine that puts emphasis on all their instruments rather than just one or the other. Arman still sounds like he's shouting from a few rooms away and can't really do the song justice, but the instruments hold solid. I was impressed by what they were able to accomplish with this cover. The only other problem I had with the cover was that it gets way too high-pitched at times; take the two-minute and fifteen-second mark, for example. It's terrible, annoying, and was one of the moments in the song I was never looking forward to. 

I understand that lofter is channeling the DIY ideals of the punk, noise, and industrial scenes into one EP. However, they need to take a step back and work on their craft a bit more. Their sounds are all over the place in the sense that some sound polished and well made, while others do not. Arman as a vocalist needs to come to the forefront rather than sounding as if he's shouting from across the building. If lofter is able to continue in the path of their NIN cover, which has well produced sounds, then there's no doubt in my mind that they'll become one of the scene better known projects. However, for now we're left with an EP that shows promise, but nothing more. Four-and-a-half out of ten. 

This review was commissioned through our Ko-fi page.
Apr 11 2021