Zombi – Escape Velocity (2011) [Relapse] // Grade: B+

The maestros of the synth are back, bestowing upon us bending, compounding beats that shift with the sleekness of Doc Brown’s Delorean. Wandering pitches unlock multi-dimensional doorways while pace and path remain everchanging. Zombi, made up of Steve Moore and Anthony Paterra, carve tunnels through space and time with their newest album Escape Velocity.

Invoking the spirit of Italian giallo film scores, the album takes listeners on a run further and further down lonely, moonlit streets. At it’s onset, the title track begins with a foreboding synthesizer hook from there pressing on, with no end in sight, through pulsating songs like “Slow Oscillations” and “Shrunken Heads.” Think frantic jogging through suburban side streets as the light of dawn breaks across the sky.

Coming to a head with “DE3″ and “Time of Troubles”, the album’s dance-floor epics, ambiance shifts from one of steady building to the completion of an art-deco skyscraper. The latter tracks reach new heights, propelled to the top by stratified electronics reminiscent of a plastic world filled with half-nude women and sports cars. Dazed keyboard strokes yield massive dream sequences as the five song, but in no way short, release comes to a close.

Escape Velocity is the perfect retro soundtrack for any time of the day as you drink mai tais in a t-shirt and blazer looking down upon the city from a high-rise poolside.

- Casper