Groundislava has discovered the world of feelings. Until now, the producer from Los Angeles had mainly made a name for himself through wonky and 8-bit pieces, based on his preference for video games and science fiction. A nerd indulging his passion for an artificial world. However, on »Frozen Throne«, the nerd is looking for love. In an artificial world, behind laptop screens and chat dialogues. The search for love is the record’s leitmotiv, turning it into a concept album: The world is digital, feelings are real. The world is cold, feelings are warm. And yes, Groundislava has made this contrast audible, having bid farewell to sheer beatmaking and having turned to writing actual songs. In addition, the L.A.-based musicians Rare Times have supported him with their vocals in five whole tracks and have thereby shaped the record just as much as Groundislava’s beats have. The beats sound like plastic shimmering in the colors of the rainbow, like bric-à-brac made of porcelain, standing next to an old windows-PC, like screensavers supported by trance music. They sound as cheesy as they sound artificial. As a contrast, the vocals of Rare Times are coming along full feelings, sounding soft and as if they are livening things up. They, too, sound cheesy. Hence, it’s no surprise that »Frozen Throne« is a pretty cheesy record altogether, but that’s exactly what it was meant to be, considering that this emo-trance-pop is the perfect sound for this topic: A dude with Bambi-eyes is meandering through a brightly colored world made of data. He’s looking for emotions but only finds emojis in the end.
Frozen Throne
