Bleep

It hasn’t been long since 96 Back started releasing music in 2018, yet he’s already racked up countless quality records including several albums for Local Action and Central Processing Unit as well including a soundtrack for the “360° immersive experience” The Neon Pack. It feels like a lifetime’s worth of music has dropped in those four years, so much so that 96 Back has seen fit to rewrite his formula already with his latest album.

Cute Melody, Window Down! is many things: a manifesto for giving in a “collage like and pastoral labour of love”, and ultimately an incredibly joyful and exhilarating album. The fun of a beat tape meets the soundplay of sonic experimentation, turning every expectation for a track completely on its head as elegant synth tapestries morph into raw house rhythms within seconds. ‘Goth Stuff’ is a shining example: a broken radio scans the waves, tuning between underground sirens, fractured sparkles, and slurred vocal samples before a coursing four to the floor beat brings everything together.

Like information overload in the best possible way, these intricate details permeate every labyrinthine turn. The nextdoor club vibrations on ‘Lounge II’ fade in and out, chill yet playful. By total contrast, ‘Wrong Warp’ bursts at the seams with bubbling explosions, before drifting back into chirping melodies. ‘When U Stop’ is a kaleidoscopic toybox of sounds, featuring layers of ticking clockwork and arcade machine sound effects. Ending the night with a grand finale, ‘High & Tired’ is an ecstatic house banger complete with warm soul samples, dazzling synths, and slamming drum machines.

Cute Melody, Window Down! is proof not only of 96 Back’s prolific career so far, but also of his multifaceted production skills.