Appropriately enough, for a song that bears the band’s name, Center Mass Universe feels like a great summation of what the band does, the various forms and genres they explore and the broad spectrum of sound and creativity they can encompass in their songs.
If you check out some of their other songs, you will variously find slow-burning musical passages, moments of ambient grace, more beat-driven momentum, atmospheric interludes, and chilled dance vibes all present. Here, you see all those ideas at work simultaneously in the same song, but all somehow complement each other rather than fighting for their moment in the spotlight.
The slow, brooding intro is forged of acoustic guitars and twinkling pianos, cascading electric guitar subtleties and even the sound of mournful cellos underpinning everything, adding panache and pathos. And slowly, via a subtle and subdued connecting musical passage, the song pivots from a gentle acoustic wave into a rising digitally driven tide. Shuffling digital beats and beguiling electronica take over as the dominant force, turning what was a solid yet restrained sound into something bearly tethered, something that floats on the breeze, something drifting and delicate, odd and ornate, something unique, something that you feel too fragile to touch – to touch it would be to break it was.
This is, perhaps, one of Center Mass Universe’s least representative tracks when placed in their who musical canon, but at once, one that tells us so much about their creativity. It reminds us that they are not always that big heavy band, that they are at home in so many forms, from intricate acoustica to chilled alt-dance, from dream-state ambient music to rock music writ large.
I love it when I find new bands to explore, no matter what sort of music they make. But when you find a band this experimental, this brave, this willing to hop genres, to storm the barricades, to explore new pastures, it is an absolute pleasure. I would describe Center Mass Universe as a band that genuinely ripped up the rulebook, but I suspect they may just have been unaware that a rulebook even existed.
More information at – https://centermassuniverse.com/home
Spotify -https://open.spotify.com/artist/1eLW5YCVTC1dO6FldG4Qxi?si=5lI4w39sSOC3YUdpLHfXgg
Center Mass Universe release their debut album on 17th September 2023
