Album Review :
Radium88 - Bad Faith EP

I was recently made aware of Radium88, in part because of my recent Song of the Day entry for 80s/90s new wave band The Free Zone from Liverpool. Vocalist/multi-instrumentalist is making music from Nottingham nowadays with Jema Davies as Radium88, and Bad Faith is a brand new collection of 4 songs. Turns out they’ve been creating together since the 1990s, but I only found out about them in recent months.

While there are similarities to The Free Zone (electronic-based alternative music), the new project doesn’t sound anything like the former. Track one, “All You Know” is a sort of experimental reggae/pop song replete with electronic beats, synthesizers, and an unusual but pleasant falsetto lead vocal. The lyrics are virtually indecipherable, but I get the feeling that Bad Faith is going to be more about soundscapes and less about statements. Let’s see if that theory holds true as we keep listening.

The title track comes up next, and the calypso offbeat is gone, with more of a cyber-punk sound taking over. The sonics + the genre make for a true blending of 1980s meets 2020s. Halfway through the tempo and time signature change entirely. There are some synth sounds here reminiscent of Grandaddy, and the time change reminds me of the way Beta Band used to play in, out, and through varying tempos in a singular track.

“We Close Our Eyes” starts out with an ambient noise soundscape and a poem reading by a female voice and the prophetic reminder, “nothing built on lies will stand.” While there is no ‘beat’ per se or rhythmic quality to this song, the layered textures of synth accompanied by the reading makes for an incredibly effective track. This track certainly renders my theory about missing statements on Bad Faith completely incorrect.

The EP closes out with “Code Red,” another downtempo tune, though this one does have a tempo. The track would work well as a closing scene to a dramatic, postmodern film. Light piano dances over ambient synths and scattered electronic beats, again with some spoken word poetry occasionally and also some news reports in the background. This description doesn’t do the song justice, as this is a very enjoyable track.

In fact, this whole EP is just delightful. Each track is enjoyable, and there is a lot of diversity from one song to the next. Genre-wise, it’s electronic music, but not dance music. It’s alternative music, but without any guitars and not even a lot of singing. Fans of experimental electronic pop, downtempo, and ambient should give this a listen.

Download from Bandcamp here: https://radium88.bandcamp.com/music
Check out their website here: http://www.radium88.net/