Well RxRy, we meet again. It's only been--what--a month since I reviewed your first album? RxRy released Snw Mltr on Valentine's Day, the promo that was sent to me did take into account that it was Valentine's Day, and it also did make it seem like Snw Mltr was a love-themed release. Thank heavens it wasn't. However, this does feel a tad rushed. Though it is only 4 tracks and 20 minutes in length, a couple of the tracks feel like they were put together last-minute; in comparison to RxRy's fabulous debut album, this falls flat for me. By no means is this a bad EP. Snw Mltr most certainly shows effort and pride in its sound. However I feel that RxRy's further step towards dance and electronica hurts the music, slightly. Considering the amount of tracks, it's only necessary to do a track overview to analyze its flaws.
"Sw Crstl Mlts" opens and immediately flaunts its indulgence into the dance music genre with it's overtly 8-bit and upfront feel. Near the middle of the track, the 8-bit keyboard loop begins to lose it's privileges of being high in the mix. The more ethereal motifs of the song sort of take over, but some of the loops seem like they were the same loops from RxRy's debut. "Sobr Vokbulry" has a more "psychedelic" melody in the sense that it's reminiscent of artists like Ducktails or Dolphins Into The Future. The track conforms to its minimal and repetitious sensibilities, and it works. "Hllljh Snds" is one of RxRy's most calming tracks: no beats, no freaky samples (with the exception of birds chirping), just some fluttery keyboards and lush tones. I find this to be the most standout track on Snw Mltr, and I wish this was the stylistic direction RxRy took on this EP. This is followed by my least favorite track (and the closer) of the EP, "Bld Drft." The first 30 seconds really get me excited for what it has to offer (it has that ethereal kind-of feel again), but then it's countered with the badly-placed bass line. Not to mention, there's another badly-placed *16-bit this time* keyboard. The track overall has a good melodic build, but some slight track balancing could've done it much more justice.
Maybe my high hopes made my thoughts biased, maybe they didn't. Nevertheless, I think that with a little more time and effort, Snw Mltr could've been outstanding. By no means is this a bad EP, in fact I would recommend this to any electronic music fan out there. I have a lot of respect toward RxRy, and for some reason I feel as if his popularity on the blogosphere is hurting his music. This is not Noah Lennox, and you shouldn't be writing 5-word reviews of music that needs far more explanation to its sound. If executed better, I would probably love the Snw Mltr EP.
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