A good artist would be familiar with the use of a metronome, a device that emits a steady pulse to help musicians play in time. When using a metronome, that pulse is measured in BPM or beats per minute for short, with a tempo marking of 60 BPM equaling up to one beat per second, while a tempo marking of 120 BPM equals up to two beats per second. This brings us to Cherry Makes Waves, a visual and audio artist born in Latvia who has followed up her self-titled EP featuring three industrial rock-meets-electroclash songs with the highly-anticipated sophomore release “90 Beats Per Minute”, titled after the tempo reading of all five songs on the new EP being locked at 90 beats per minute or equaling up to one and a half beats per second.
The sounds of this extended play blends a plethora of genres from synthpop to art-rock to the adult-alternative-grunge stylings of a Jagged Little Pill-era Alanis Morissette to the rigid frenzies of electroclash music going to indietronica, only to cycle to tribal tones and orchestral ambient tunes and hints of Eurodance on tracks like Big League if I’m not mistaken. Truly an eccentric collection of stylings and the result is a curious blend of genres any music fan listening to one of the genres aforementioned would find treasure in as throughout five tracks, Cherry Makes Waves go out of their way to bring camaraderie in multiple genres and even countries as the EP was created as a global collaboration across Latvia, the Netherlands, Spain, Canada, and the US with the ease and eccentricity that comes from an artist already full realized, with their abilities growing ever-so-constantly.
The EP starts with Spaceman, an aptly-themed art-rock and synth-pop slow burn of a track that sets the stage to Cherry Makes Waves bringing about cinematic feels with analog synthesizer textures brewing through soundstages as the singer waxes poetically about not being able to be with a certain person, not being able to be “pulled apart” and the synonymous parallels of the two ideas. There’s also my favourite track of the entire extended play: Big League, a song that cascades through at least eight genre stylings from industrial rock to funk bass riffs to nu-metal and circling riot-girl punk to synthpop and art-rock with the effortlessness that one can only marvel at as Cherry Makes Waves sings about being in the big leagues. Whether it’s the dramatics of the Home (Complete) or the Perfect Places by Lorde-coded unity themes of the closing title track that wraps up the EP with a bow, listeners are sure to find delight in the idea that wherever Cherry Makes Waves goes, all music is capable of hitting the right spots in any and all ways imaginable at 90 beats per minute.
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About the Author
A tenured media critic known working as a ghost writer, freelance critic for publications in the US and former lead writer of Atop The Treehouse. Reviews music, film and TV shows for media aggregators.
