“Thee Physical” begins with the repetition of the phrase, “Well the ill behavior’s back” over layers of piano, drawn-out vocals, and a busy beat. This welcomes Pictureplane fans to another solid album of heavy, electronic-based tracks and sporadic vocal sampling. Travis Egedy’s latest album under the Pictureplane moniker certainly picks up right where 2009’s “Dark Rift” left off.
But why should he change anything? We get to hear him having fun for almost an hour through his signature sound of overtly sexual lyrics and always-interesting beats. While his vocals are sometimes hidden by other components of the songs, Egedy seems more integrated as the actual voice of Pictureplane compared to his older work. In this role, he plays an interesting call and response with the female vocal samples he uses in many of his tracks. His voice sounds more comfortable within the cavernous echo and showcases him as an instrument rather than a meek artist.
Also, guitarist Jupiter Keyes of HEALTH helps to create a more refined outline for Egedy’s expansive sound. Keyes drives Egedy’s songs to be less about blowing speakers out and more about pop sensibility. Perhaps this is also from Egedy’s experience as an artist but Keyes’ involvement with HEALTH is worth noting, especially since that band contains similarly hushed vocals.
Egedy presents a varied collection of songs. “Negative Slave” would sound at home on any Kid Cudi record due to a wriggly downbeat, which sounds decidedly nocturnal. Egedy’s voice slithers across the beat as it grows as a heavily altered sample sounding like a siren blares over the top. On a few of the tracks, like “Trancegender”, Egedy uses soulful samples, adding an unfamiliar and exciting new characteristic to his music. Halfway through that track, the already confrontational beat is disrupted by an abrasive chord progression which would have been stronger were it not immediately and tragically swept under the beat again.
“Touching Transform” also has a passionate sample that calls attention to Egedy’s vocals. When performing as the frontman for Pictureplane, Egedy lets his voice serve a purpose other than to create more atmospheric textures. He takes the reigns on “Black Nails” as well and listeners get to hear Egedy at his most rambunctious.
While he doesn’t heavily change his approach, Egedy has created another collection of solid, danceable tracks containing engaging samples and vocals that are even stronger. His exploration with more emotional music creates a stronger backbone for the album as a whole, and what little change there is does just enough to suggest that we’ll continue to be excited by Pictureplane in future.
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