4 out of 5

Label: Warp

Produced by: Richard D. James

‘Syro’ is the kind of album that, had it been dropped by a newcomer, could easily be labeled genius.  The way it slips and slides between tones all while maintaining a general aesthetic within a track and creates a larger set of peaks and valleys as an album is a rarity, even for the type of outre electronic music in which James dabbles, not to mention the standout moments which are notable even amongst Aphex’s many-yeared career.  But ‘Syro’ wasn’t dropped by a newcomer, it was released by an insanely influential artist who’s been making music for like 25 years.  So we view this – if we’re so inclined, which I am – through some history.

So for the sake of brevity (yeah right), let me first point out what I feel are the main things lacking here: an emotional core, and a sense of this being an actual album.  The sequencing does work for the flow of the disc, but post Drukqs, James’ Aphex releases have, literally, been patchwork releases, combining mixes or EPs.  But when you go back and listen to the non-compilation albums from Windowlicker and before, you get a sense that what you’re listening to is a big picture.  Even if it wasn’t recorded as such, the sensation is there.  Part of this is because Syro was, indeed, recorded over several years.  But the other part is because this is consciously, as James put it, something of a pop album, so we’ll assume tracks were culled from his recordings to fit that bill.  And the nature of pop is singles; singles which don’t necessarily have to form a cohesive whole.  This does sacrifice the humanity that I always ‘heard’ beneath the bleeps of bloops of Aphex Twin.  AFX projects (or other names) seemed to lean toward a more machine-cut edge, definitely electronic, but Aphex was music made by a human.  Often there was a playfulness or sense of snark behind the music, but occasionally RDJ would hit you with something that felt deeper than just odd beats.  Either way, I got a feeling from those tracks, and that extended to the album.  Syro hits that mark in a couple of places, but otherwise it’s pretty light fare.  Stunningly orchestrated fare, but yeah, it is pretty poppy.

Now let’s take a step back from the microscope and talk about the positives.  ‘Syro’ can be broken down into three ‘sections’ which seem distinct to me, and then its concluding track.  Throughout, you’ll hear light lifts from different album – even some sounds that date back to ‘Come to Daddy,’ – but the end result is, at most moments, a very new sound for Aphex Twin, which is quite exciting.  This is particularly noticeable on the first three tracks, the first of which dishes out the IDM goods which we were probably expecting with the boldness of an artist with RDJ’s experience, embracing the more ‘organic’ experimentation of Aphex with legible vocal samples and a playful, heart-stopping bpm.  The next track flips the tables while maintaining some of those new tricks – the vocals, the ‘warmer’ synth sounds – peeling back the beat to a more muted, cooler jam, extending out to 10+ minutes.  Track 4 is a haunting classic, which reminds us of the emotional palette James is capable of wending into his tracks when desired: ‘4 bit’s poppy beat, at about the 3-minute mark, takes a sudden downward turn, vocals oohing in the very background, before returning us to its initial beat.  Its a subtle shift in tone that gives the track a heart.  Track 5 sounds like an AFX track, and track 6 sounds like a less frantic Windowlicker.  Those descriptions are enough, but their inclusion in the tracklist is important: Syro, if given completely over to its ‘pop’ tracks – which happen pretty much for the rest of the disc, save the closing ‘Drukqs’-esque piano track (also marking this as a ‘pop’ disc, closing with an intimate song) – wouldn’t be near as dynamic of a listen.  Fun, with enough nuance to let you know you’re listening to someone who knows their way around a production, but less fun without the lead-in.

And that’s that.  I can understand releasing something like this after a prolonged absence from a traditional ‘album,’ but the relative simplicity of the disc does leave out some of the elements that drew me to Aphex in the first place.  Still: put your stereophile ears on and listen to all of the madness James manages to pack into those tracks.  Even when he’s writing what he considers a pop track, there’s an amazing amount of depth to it.