Thorns and Leaves isn’t an immediate affair or love at first sight when you listen to it. The debut EP from Hyperchromatic is a spiral down the deepest confines of an infinite hallway of extreme sonics, where dream-like sequences only serve to veil an artist at full throttle through a hall full of mystery doors. It’s a trip that’s better experienced through more than one visit. When you think you have grasped its essence, it will disappear from your memory like sand through your hands. It is then, when it will call to drag you in again, and again.
Even if the runtime barely exceeds fifteen minutes, the four tracks that comprise this debut effort require some mental gymnastics in order to fully extract all its juices, but believe me when I say it’s well worth the effort. Hyperchromatic creates a seemingly impossible breed of indie, electronica and alternative, that proves she has something truly special in the bag.
“Grass Crown” the lead single, already shows the level of focus and creativity that Hyperchromatic has. She shows her next level of chemistry, constantly changing patterns while singing along carefully sculpted harmonies. It’s almost four minutes long but every aspect of this song has been thoroughly edited, expanded, stretched and taken to the extreme. The vocals here soar, the songwriting takes a significant leap into the abstract, and the moody riffs and the staggering work of the rhythm machinery powered by powerful drums, punch your brain in uncharted places.
This gives you a good idea on what the rest of the tracks sound like, especially with “Stranger”, which is also a favorite. The artist’s vocals aren’t something you would normally hear or expect, and when you mix everything else, it becomes something that your brain takes time to process. It’s quite sobering, sort of like flipping a wet piece of cloth and then twisting and squeezing it so that all the water drips out. Your mind is left trying to figure out all of these cosmic, trippy sounds. And if nothing clicks, the only option left is to put the EP on loop, letting the sounds soak in until it becomes familiar. If your were to describe Thorns and Leaves in one word or two, it would be mind-bending. This debut EP goes to prove how Hyperchromatic definitely shines in her own unique way, imprinting her music with a sound of its own.
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