
As far as the new album goes, it is not as genre-pushing as We Have Sound- nor does it try to be. It’s a more modest, inverted work. While it does feature Vek’s trademark brash melodies, here the musical anarchist feels sanitized under tighter construction. “I’m a lost cowboy/waiting for the truth” Vek croons as he begins Leisure Seizure with the bluesy “Hold Your Hand”- a brilliantly alive tune that boasts a particularly rugged percussive time signature. The musical elements are all over the place, but the production feels more reliable and restrained. Leisure Seizure has much better manners than its predecessor- an album that seemed to recklessly leave piles of crumbs in its wake. The cleaner sensibility has much to do with the relative absence of punk influence this time around. Leisure Seizure is predominantly electronic based; most of its chord progression is complementary to whatever bizarro synth line Vek cooks up. However, the cascading snare and dynamic percussion still play a decisive role on urgently paced tracks like “Seizemic” and “A.P.O.L.O.G.Y.”. Beginning with “Close Mic’ed” and its sonic drone, the latter half of the album moves into early Aphex Twin territory with its scattered noises and distant echoes. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t- “On a Plate” sporadically utilizes a piano opposite a driving electro-oddity; it is an interesting experiment that never really takes off the way it wants to. Bright in tone, moody in structure, this is ultimately a smaller work for Tom Vek- thus, more tantalizing than truly enjoyable. We desperately want Leisure Seizure to be far ahead of its time- instead, we must be content with it being only ahead of the curve.
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