React & Review: SVRCINA - 1200 Beats Per Minute
It's all in the Details.
It’s a fact that’s worth repeating but I love reacting to artists or bands that I know little or nothing about. SVRCINA is one of those artists. I’ve heard one or two of her tracks in the past, but that’s through algorithmic playlists. I haven’t really delved much further.
Today, that changes as I dive into her latest album release, 1200 Beats Per Minute. As a disclaimer, I’ve heard Hearing Colour and Back 2 Good before, neither of which are on this album.
So without further ado, here is my first reaction and review of SVRCINA’s 1200 Beats Per Minute.
You Again
The very first thing I noticed is how sharp her vocals are, almost distractingly so. The entire mix seems to be coming in a bit hot, as the hi-hats are a bit forward and sharp as well.
The beat is excellent though, it has a bit of that telephone-esk effect. It’s a very smooth beat. I think it contrasts well with her relatively treble-forward production.
I love the way the track ends with the surprise acoustic guitar. It’s a great de-escalation.
Love Me or Let Me Down
The bass here is very smooth. Very mid-bass heavy. It doesn’t dig too deep, but at the same time, it’s not super bouncy. It has a great warmth to it. The same goes for the kick drum, it blends in quite nicely with the bass.
I love the snare drum, it’s very quick with not much decay and definitely no reverb. It’s an interesting production choice that contrasts well with all the other relatively smooth instrumentation.
Her voice here is excellent as well. It’s obvious there’s a distortion layer that’s adding digital artifacting to her vocals. It’s a great tool for backing vocals, too, to differentiate the main and her backing vocals.
Lucid
The spliced vocals to start off the track are great. While not conclusive, it gives the track a bit more soundstage and atmosphere compared to the first two tracks.
Of course, I take that all back, but not in a bad way. I’m digging how narrow the production is here. Vocals, snares, and kick drum are dead center, while the hi-hats are slightly off center. The guitar coming in creates a great sense of space. I wanna say it’s a single mono guitar that was doubled and panned to each channel.
The best way to put it is it audibly sounds like a deck of cards. Everything is stacked vertically. Some cards aren’t completely in the pile, so those bleed out a little. That’s how my brain audibly hears this track.
It’s been a while since I’ve heard bass that’s straight up all sub-bass, yet here we are. This track’s bass is so sub-bassy that my headphones are struggling to resolve it. I can still hear it, but there’s definitely some distortion coming in either from the mix or the fact that my headphones can’t reliably output bass that low.
Hummingbird
Take what I said about the sub-bassy bass from the last track and apply it to the kick drum on this track. My goodness, that kick drum hits very deep. I love the vocal pacing in the first verse. It’s very catchy and caught my attention almost right away.
On a similar note, I love her backing vocals on this track in the chorus. It’s not terribly exciting but it’s mixed well. Full disclosure, this is the first track I’ve added to my library. But more on that in the conclusion.
I find it somewhat ironic the track I have the least to say about thus far is becoming my favorite of the first four tracks. Sometimes less is more.
I Want, I Will, I Won’t
Kicking things off with an acoustic guitar, I like it. Beyond that, I think this is the first track that screams flat out EDM to me. The percussion is most definitely giving more EDM and less EDM-pop, which is how I’d describe the first four tracks.
That said, I’m kind of surprised how "vanilla" the snare drum is here. It sounds like it came straight from a standard drum set. That’s super interesting.
I love the pre-chorus on this track. It’s giving melodramatic vibes and I’m here for it. It slows down the otherwise very upbeat and fast-paced track. I feel similarly with the bridge, it gives us a break in an otherwise exciting song.
Stuck (featuring Zach Paradis)
Full disclosure, I’ve never heard of Zach Paradis nor have I ever heard any music he’s created or has been featured in.
There are still a whole two and a half minutes to go, but it does make me wonder if it’s one of those features where the featured artist effectively takes over the entire track. It’s entirely possible Zach and SVRCINA trade verses. (EDIT: it was the latter.)
The vocal blending here is interesting. I don’t know if I love it as much as I have with the previous tracks. It leaves a lot to be desired.
I’m sorry to say but this is easily my least favorite track thus far. I know I get heat for it all the time, but I’m of the opinion that having featured artists on an album isn’t always the best thing to do. I think this track, Stuck is an example of that in my opinion.
No hate to either artist here, but this one simply did not hit for me.
Loyal
This is the first track on the album thus far that I’m bopping my head to. Likewise, I’m tapping my feet too. The pacing of this track is fantastic. This is another track that’s heading straight to my main library.
Her backing vocals in the chorus are great. It doesn’t overpower her main vocals and has a sense of softness. Likewise, the bridge has a similar sense of softness, while the final chorus has a sense of power and energy.
Again, I don’t have much to say here, but I absolutely love the track.
Million Miles (featuring Mugisho)
Similar to the other featured artist, I’ve never heard of Mugisho or any work he’s created or has been involved with as far as I know.
I feel like a broken record at this point but the backing vocals blending here is fantastic, even though it’s for Mugisho. In this case, the reverb amount is perfect and overall gives his vocals a sense of space and depth. I love it. The voice echo is great too.
On the other hand, SVRCINA’s vocal in the second verse is a great compliment. My notes are similar here. It’s the oldest trick in the book but the use of reverb here is perfect. The blend of the two vocals is a match made in heaven.
Overall, I really love this track. Its soundstage is very wide while the instrumentation is fairly simple. I sense a possible trend here. I think I like SVRCINA’s tracks that are audibly less exciting but are able to use the more simplistic production to convey more to the listener. I don’t know if that makes any sense, but this track is now the third song I’ve added to my library.
Only Us
The beginning of this track reminds me of early 2010s Owl City, just me? Just me? Maybe so.
One of the golden rules for my react content is that I never skip a track. With that being said, I didn’t find this track to be all that special. And that’s a shame as we just had two tracks back-to-back that I really loved.
I do like how the track ends, however. Stripping away all the bass and a bit of the lower mids to give it a sharper sound.
Details
I love how this track starts. Very smooth and laid back. So far, they were very few and far between but this song has my head bopping. That’s a great sign and I’m only 30 seconds in.
And I think that’s a great way to describe this track. I’m adding it to my library, but this track is very mellow. I love the synths on this track as well. They’re lower in the mix but they effectively stick around the entire track. It gives the track an exceptional sense of atmosphere and space.
I’d go as far as to say that she nailed the Details here.
Hold Me Close
Alright. It’s the last track on the album so hopefully we can close it out strong.
Again, it’s a head bopper right off the start. I’m 13 seconds in, so I think I need a little bit more time before I decide to add it to my library. That hi-hat is killer, though. Not overly sharp, but not overly smooth, either. It hits just right.
The synth bass is fantastic here. Maybe it’s a synth and a bass, but either way, it’s great.
Wow. The bridge is great. It strips everything back and gives a great sense of space. The transition from it to the final chorus is great, too. The ramp up followed by the immense level of energy is fantastic.
I don’t think this one is getting added to my library, but it definitely is a great way to end the album.
Conclusion
As I start to explore more music as time goes on and move away from my comfort artists and genres, albums like this are bound to emerge. 1200 Beats Per Minute is a fantastic album and I’m very glad I listened to it top to bottom. But as a whole, it’s not for me.
I’d wager there’s going to be a lot of you out there who give it a listen and absolutely love it. And to be perfectly fair, four of the tracks did make it to my library so it’s not like it was totally not for me. 4 out of 12 tracks is one-third of the tracks, or 33%. I’d say that’s a win.
If you’re into EDM-pop, I think 1200 Beats Per Minute is right up your alley. There’s a lot to love here. I can’t say for certain I’ll continue down this road and continue to react and review her other albums (unless requested, of course. I love y’all), but I’d say the album is solid and can be great for the right person.
NOTE: This album reaction and review was completed after listening to SVRCINA’s 1200 Beats Per Minute on Tidal (24-bit, 48kHz) with an active Tidal subscription on the Tidal desktop application.