Released on: 20th August 2021
Midlreda returns, as with Batman and the Jedi before him. However Mildreda, the moniker of project lead Jan Dewulf, gives a fresh lick of paint to that age old genre which was defined by maniacs and masterminds alike– Industrial. As a project Mildreda has its roots in the 90’s. But, in an effort to upcycle has taken the cast of futurepop and modeled accordingly.
The compositions on I Was Never Really There are solid, predictably so. While the production values are crisp and clear cut. It can best be described as an album without blemishes. Yet perhaps that is why it fails to register as anything but a background beat with choral tendencies. As it is, this engine runs on swirling arpeggios and rhythmic melodies. Whereas the most human element struggles to convey the lyrics in a clear and composed manner. And, here we have the twist!
To say this album is industrial and dismiss it for sounding like EBM, when the press release clearly tries to align it to Skinny Puppy et al, would be unfair. That strain of industrial was born from a very different time. A time when farms and factories were not nearly as autonomous.
I Was Never Really There is a product of this time. A time where AI is involved in everything. And the synth work on this album reflects that with a near perfect observation of Matrix-like coincidence in its timing. It reflects the age old struggle for perfection amidst the troublesome voices of discontent and of laborious trial. It is with that in mind that, like in the case of software, it becomes like old music ported to a new system. However like any good changeover it is furtive through its procession.
7/10
