Album review: SOHN – ‘Tremors’

While Ed Sheeran has his guitar, and James Blake his keys, it’s SOHN’s vocals that are the most instantly prominent instrument used to create songs of simplicity and splendour. Not only due to an impressive range that glides, but also the way they are reshaped, sampled and looped to provide the music behind the lyrics.

Tremors, SOHN’s debut album (which follows remixes for the likes of BANKS and Lana Del Ray), is essentially an electronic landscape, but it’s one which still encapsulates an atmosphere and a depth which usually requires a more organic, traditional structure. Whilst there are a few hints of guitar scattered around (primarily in Ransom Note, where lines about floating on the breeze and waiting for waves enforce this idea of a landscape) they play a minor role, behind those shapeshifting vocals and mesmerizing electronic effects.

Yet for all their captivating beats, Tremors contains simple songs portrayed in impressively robust ways. Hints of electronic pioneers Kraftwerk linger in Fools and Lessons, where the loops paint pictures and somehow manage to reset the scene while seemingly staying the same. Lights heads in a more club-friendly direction, blending tribal effects with light-like synths, while slow and steady Aztec beats carry Veto; a ballad with silences that allow his vocals the spotlight they deserve. His ability to create songs with heart from mainly machines, though, is highlighted in Bloodflows, which ‘flows’ and bubbles in equal measure before trickling through icy synths, whilst Paralysed is essentially a piano ballad, with trippy snicks and snacks sprinkled on top. It’s a dreamy yet heartbreaking piece, with lyrics about “twisted intestines reminding me that it’s not alright.” Whether through his own point of view or somebody else’s, the feeling of being paralysed (“And you hold on to me, my arms locked by my side”) is made clear with vivid lyrics and an honest performance.

Artifice, arguably the most ‘traditional’ or ‘radio friendly’ track, is both a highlight due to this appeal, yet flawed next to songs that are all offering something slightly unorthodox. In his own words (during the Hot-Chip-does-chilled-out-acoustic The Wheel) SOHN is not “reinventing the wheel”, but he has given electronic music another angle, by showing it with more flesh and feeling while certain artists focus on a beat or a rhythm without a thought for what lies beneath. Ralf Hütter – founder of the aforementioned Kraftwerk – famously shared his opinion on a similar subject, saying “I think the synthesiser is more sensitive than a traditional instrument like a guitar”. SOHN reinforces this theory, with this Vienna-made, 11-track collection of good vibrations.

Tremors is out now.

Words by:
Dan Bull
Follow @DanBull7609