Trauma - EP

Tenchio

In hindsight, I really low-balled that Jane Remover Frailty review, because it is one of the few more recently released records I discovered that has consistently stayed in rotation. And that's because, despite it's shortcomings, it is an incredibly creative, layered, and highly detailed record. In a stroke of genius, the record also fuses the cutting-edge, terminally online genre-stylings of hyperpop with the suburban nostalgia of pop-punk and emo. My respect and appreciation for that record has grown tremendously since its release, and I'm kind of dying for more music like that. Enter Tenchio who's new EP titled Trauma is the closest anyone has come so far to scratching that itch. The genre fusions are a little different; opting more for a math rock, midwest emo, and screamo angle over pop-punk, but there's certainly a kinship in the spirit and intensity between the two projects.

This thing kicks off with Atarash which serves as a great mission statement for this EP; giving you a taste of everything Tenchio has to offer. This song has some classic misdirection as it begins with some chiming, noodly guitars and some pitched, robotic clean vocals. It quickly transitions into some pretty overwhelming screamed passages. After some sensory overload, we get a nice instrumental break with a fairly serene piano loop before we are launched right back into a ferocious finish. Tenchio is screaming until his lungs collapse, his guitars are having a full-blown technological meltdown, and it's all just jumbled together into a cacophonous mess. It definitely leaves a strong impression.

The Rest features some more great guitar and incorporates those classic sped-up jungle drum breaks. This song also introduces us to Tenchio's more natural sung vocal tone. It goes over mostly well, especially when he's belting, however, there is one section where his vocals are a little buried underneath a flurry of tapped guitar notes. While I am impressed with the detail and the sounds, I feel like this song really could have used a more distinct hook to anchor my attention. Acceptance by contrast, achieves that with it's super catchy guitar riff. Even though this song isn't packed with all sorts of crazy ideas like the other ones, Tenchio stretches the value of this great guitar riff by making all sorts of digital edits; constantly differentiating the original idea.

We then get a nice little ambient interlude (Sketch In Green) which builds up all sorts of melancholic tension before going into the EP's most interesting track Perform. We get a calming intro with some twinkling pianos before Tenchio comes in with his vocals. Now right off the bat, I will say that this is not a novel vocal approach or sound as Tenchio's shaky, and anxious auto-croon is very reminiscent of Hobo Johnson's Sorry, My Dear. Nonetheless, it is an interesting sound, hearing the auto tune program attempt to repair his emotionally distraught performance. Like the opening track, Perform also leads to a very explosive and loud finish, although, Tenchio delivers some contrastingly confident belts here and it is easily his strongest vocal performance on the project. Again, I just wish that his vocals were a little louder in the mix.

Sadly, I wished Perform closed the record given how emotional it was and the sense of finality it gave, but Tenchio saw fit to close the record with Projector. I have trouble finding the direction in this track given how piecemeal all the sections seem to be strung together. It's maybe my least favourite song on the EP. Aside from that though, I have few complaints overall. I think some of the vocal performances could have been a little stronger, and I think some of the mixing could have been a little tighter. Especially in the more overwhelmingly loud moments, where I think the sense of volume could have been achieved in other ways besides going "all faders up" and letting clip distortion do the work. With that being said, I'm still really impressed with this project. I value and appreciate the unique blending of genres that are simultaneously rooted in the 'new' as well as the nostalgic. I very much look forward to whatever Tenchio does next.