Hearing Fotocrime’s third full-length Heart Of Crime and having no background information on the project’s origin, you would never guess that Ryan Patterson, the singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer behind the project, is from Louisville, Kentucky. On first listen, the cold, electronic atmosphere of the album’s songs, dominated by the repetitive beats of drum machines and by pulsing synths, could not differ more from the organic sound produced on acoustic stringed instruments – the instruments employed to play country and bluegrass music, the music Kentucky is famous for. Instead to the Southeast of the United States the album’s sound will have your mind travelling to Germany and England, reminding you of bands like Kraftwerk, DAF and The Sisters of Mercy.
But that’s just the first impression. With every additional run-through you’ll discover new details on Heart Of Crime. Slowly but surely the musical picture will grow, and you’ll find that the compositions have their own character despite obvious influences and an abundance of repetitions. Character is given, for example, through Patterson’s whispered baritone. His performance differs significantly from the typically cold, slightly distorted vocals of EBM and industrial music. The furthest deviation from that template is perhaps Learn to Love the Lash, where Patterson’s vocal performance will remind you of Leonard Cohen’s dark, melancholic songs. The similarity is, in fact, so great that the first part of the track could easily be mistaken as authored by Cohen himself.
Contributions of various guest performers, vocalists and other musicians, additionally diversify the sound, providing even more personality, more character. Janet Morgan’s vocals, for example, add a softer note to Crystal Cave and Skinned Alive, while heavy guitars, as performed by Nick Thieneman on Industry Pig, provide additional harshness. On Inferno Rebels there is even an ominous saxophone solo to be heard, played by Patterson himself, a first for Fotocrime – regarding instrument and note.
Patterson has named the sound he has created “electric Southern romanticism”, and he says that in his mind “Fotocrime is a meeting point between cold-war Europe and mid-century Americana.” “DAF meets Roy Orbison; Portishead meets Ricky Nelson. Raymond Chandler and Paul Bowles go to see a Douglas Sirk and Carol Reed double feature.” Another way to put it: Urban noir meets Southern gothic. The result is in any case an appealing, very listenable, even danceable mixture.
To summarize: If EBM, industrial and post punk are your kind of music, if you like the mechanical, repetitive beats of drum machines and pulsing synths, but are simultaneously a fan of Leonard Coehn’s dark, velvety voice, his melancholic songs and soundscapes then Fotocrime’s new album Heart Of Crime is exactly right for you.
(8/10 Slavica)
25/08/2021 at 3:12 pm
The photo of the gentleman in question on the 2020 album now available on Apple Music is DEFINITELY more New York City or Berlin than Louisville. 🙂