With the flickering of an eternal being emerges one Sparkle Glitch, newly-formed as if her blend of electronic dance music and art rock stylings comes as a native language to her. There is a real comfort to these soundscapes when it comes to her production styling as seen on her new EP, Battle Maiden, which features the artist on six tracks of glitched-out and sparklingly off the wall production.
To my knowledge, Sparkle Glitch has been creating music at the age of five coming from a classical choral background and an unearthly love for EDM, ambient, disco, and dubstep, she’s making music that to be frank, isn’t something that sounds like anything else at the moment, and she’s all the better for it.
Tracks like the opening title track, which sounds as if one is stepping into a foggy, neon-lit cyberpunk dreamscape where the edges are all sharp and the vocals are like floating on air as the song combines gritty, electronic textures with soft, celestial vocals that hit you in a way that makes you wonder why more people aren’t doing this kind of thing.
Another highlight, Bluebird, comes as a punch to the gut in the best possible way. A tribute to Sparkle Glitch’s late mother, this track feels like floating in a dream although it carries with it all the weight of grief and spirituality pressing down on it like an entire emotional rollercoaster wrapped up in atmospheric textures, synths and Bjork-esque vocal runs. It’s quiet, almost fragile at the start, but as it builds, you’re hit with these cinematic layers of sound that really give you a heart-wrenching rush equivalent to a climax in a sci-fi drama plot point of sorts.
Closer Elementals wraps things out with this slow burn of mystery and a strong sense of storytelling that ties everything together perfectly with this post-credit melancholy that feels apt. It’s like when you finish a good book and you’re left just sitting there, contemplating your life, except instead of a book, it’s a really cool, darkly atmospheric track set to various dubstep wubbs incorporated to a track with a nod to Aurora in the vocal cadences.
I haven’t heard dubstep or EDM done quite like this for a while now. Sparkle Glitch isn’t just throwing synths and bass drops together willy-nilly; there’s real heart in this EP. Each track is packed with a sense of authenticity and a bunch of unexpected twists to go along with it. If people think they know what electronic dance music is, they should really listen to Battle Maiden. Sparkle Glitch just might change their minds about it.
It’s a prime example of how these musical styles can be outright sublime when done right.
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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.
