For musician Holly Herndon, music does not only have to be made with traditional instruments and lyrics. The thumps and pulsations that dominate the tracks on Herndon’s debut album, “Movement,” are actually based off of electronic beats that Herndon produces herself and then alters on the computer to create a music that can be felt within listeners’ ears.
Herndon isn’t just winging it though. She has studied this type of electronic music and techno beats as she prepared the path for the launch of her career as a full-fledged musician. The album, which is due for release on Monday, is also a product and reflection of the five years that Herndon spent working as a DJ in Berlin clubs after having developed an interest in computer music and composition while pursuing graduate studies at Mills College.
“Movement” is clearly just the beginning for Herndon, who is currently pursuing her doctorate in electronic music at Stanford University.
Herndon’s past experience comes into play on her freshman album as the musician experiments with digital sound and tracks fit for the club environment.
“Movement” is a relatively short album, with its seven tracks clocking in at just over 35 minutes. But Herndon aims for quality over quantity as she dedicates specific beats and rhythms ““ such as thumps, taps and buzzes ““ to each song.
Given the absence of dominating lyrics, this album is best enjoyed through headphones. This allows listeners to actually experience the reverberations of the beats that Herndon creates and literally feel the sensation of her music pulsating back and forth through their ears.
This is definitely the case in the album’s opening song, “Terminal,” which creates the effect of each beat bouncing back and forth as the song builds into more complex patterns of synthesized sounds.
The second song, “Fade,” is probably one of the strongest on the album; the song showcases a wider range of the feeling of the “living” music Herndon is able to create through electronic music. These tracks seem to come to life as they pulse into the ear.
“Fade” is the type of synthetic, beat-driven song that one might hear at a club or as the background track of other artists’ songs.
“Breathe,” the third track on the album, is appropriately named as the song centers on the sound of Herndon taking in air and then reverberating the sound of her exhalation. While this type of music and mixing might seem foreign at first, Herndon’s talent is evident in her ability to mimic the sound of breathing while also transforming a mundane note into something with a living musical quality.
The title track, the fifth song on the album, creates more of a dance feeling than most of the other songs on “Movement” due to its faster pace and vocals that almost sound like singing but are barely audible. This is probably the most relatable track for those who are new to this evolving genre of electronic music.
By combining her academic musical background with her intuition as an up-and-coming artist, Herndon is making a name for herself while using the computer as her instrument of choice. This album might seem a bit unconventional to those who have never been exposed to this type of sound outside of the club setting, but Herndon’s music can hold its own against that of other electronic artists such as Andy Stott. In spite of stiff competition in this genre, Herndon shows that her innovative music has staying power.
““ Andrea Seikaly
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