Review: Hacking The Wave – 'Circuit Breakers'

HACKING THE WAVE
'Circuit Breakers'
SELF-RELEASED

Victor Love's side project Hacking The Wave dropped it's full-length début last month in the form of 'The Dome'. It presented a stripped down yet eclectic exploration of the cyberpunk themes that Love has fostered through his work with Dope Stars Inc. and on his new solo project. The blend of genres such as glitch, chiptune, 8-bit, industrial and synth metal felt fresh and exciting and given his history as a song writer and producer it was always going to yield interesting results. Never one to rest on his laurels, Love has unleashed a follow-up single in the form of 'Circuit Breakers' to continue to hack the cyberpunk genre.

This two-track single takes the strongest points of the album – the synth melodies, searing guitars, vocoded vocals and rock rhythms and crafts two undeniable dance floor ready cuts.

The title track, which features the talents of Orax alongside Love is an anthemic blend of hard beats, addictive, synths and head-banging riffs filtered stripped down to the circuitry for a dirty dance track. The second song on offer '3D Print Me' keeps to a similar formula but drops the tempo slightly, ups the groove and heads into a little bit more of a melodic direction without sacrificing the raw flavours of its companion.

Once again with Victor Love's production talents this is a nice sounding release that perfectly balances the raw and low-fi elements of the project's palette with the more engaging rhythms and melodies. It's mixed nicely and despite the heavily vocoded vocals and distorted guitars, they stay prominent in the mix and don't succumb to being swallowed by the rest of the instrumentation.

'Circuit Breakers' continues to show that there is a lot more to Victor Love as an artist and producer. The single has both club and live potential and further validates Hacking The Wave as a viable side project that needs to be explored more.  

Posted in: circuit breakers,hacking the wave,music