Robotnik
Robotnik, from Ireland, make for a first for the inde bands blog, as Chris Morrin will be known to readers of the blog, as playing guitar with Reader’s Wives, making him the first musician to feature in two completely different guises and Robotnik, with the melding of electronic beats and melody together with strong performance art on live performance certainly is a long way from Reader’s Wives.
Robotnik
Chris has a breadth of life experience and intellectual questioning, which he brings to bear with Robotnik, as he says himself of music ‘…It’s just the most amazing thing because you can’t hold it and see it or taste it. It’s pretty amazing. I love the universe. I love how the universe works. I’m big into quantum physics and I love how sound works. I just think it’s incredible how a car alarm can be instantly horrible and how Beethoven can be instantly beautiful….’
The desire to challenge the listener and audience is a feature of Robotnik. The experimentation and output is diverse. Innocent acoustic beat pop sounding pieces are injected with an electronic back wash and clever lyric, to take on a complex layer of moods. Other tracks are reminiscent of the darker moods of German Electronic pop. The music leaves me in an uncomfortable dilemma, great to listen to carefully, but also demanding movement and loosing my senses in the moment. Perhaps it is just me, but doing the two at the same time is too much for my brain, maybe that is why writing this review has taken so long, each track needs to be played at least twice. It is a testament to well composed music that on two different levels, it makes perfect sense.
While there is a darkness to much of the sentiment behind the output, difficult story-lines are handled with great humour in the lyric.
I haven’t had the opportunity to see Robotnik live, but much emphasis is placed on the the visual performance and larger venues see Chris, working with Martin Osborne.
What I enjoy particularly like about Chris is that a serious musician is in evidence, which is superbly counterbalanced by someone who does what they really enjoy and this feeds though to the listener, who can enjoy the music as an active participant or sit back and let the musical complexities reverberate around the inner ear; making the music highly accessible, despite, or is that because of the challenges Robotnik lays out.
With a new EP containing People Walk Away released in Germany in March and the album Pleasant Square set for release in Germany in April, followed by a German tour in May, keep your eyes and ears out for Robotnik.
