Year: 2025
Label: Zoharum
Just one look at the cover, and you know: you’re in for some of Zoharum weirdness. And when the promo sheet discusses everything but the music, you can be certain of it. Just about the only thing the description has to say of the music is: “experimental electronics.”
Yes indeed.
For what it’s worth, that minimal description does hit the proverbial nail on the proverbial head. Foil Punk absolutely is experimental electronics. Thematically, it seems to be loosely focused on cyberpunk, with a couple of tracks very directly referencing genre classic Blade Runner. However, musically, this is in no way particularly obvious.
Zenial’s approach to experimental electronics is an exercise in minimalism. Sparse, atonal synthesizers; field recordings; glitch sounds; understated, airy arrangements. Foil Punk is an album of sparseness, where one sonic element is put in the limelight with minimal activity in the background.
Some of the time Foil Punk approaches some kind of ambient. At other times, especially towards the end of the album, more abrasive layers of synth are introduced, taking Foil Punk into abstract industrial territory. The jarring buzz of Biały Szum is almost unnervingly grating.
This is one of those albums that can easily be called an acquired taste. It takes a special kind of person to be able to, let alone want to delve into abstract minimalism of this kind. It’s abstract on many levels: compositionally, and – as already mentioned – thematically as well. The covers, the names of the tracks, all point vaguely at some sort of sci fi/cyberpunk themes, but whether the listener finds them in the music… well, that’s up to the listener. Maybe there is something of that in the rather digital and sterile soundscapes.
I openly admit that this kind of understated abstraction is quite aside from my musical tastes. As such, Foil Punk is an album I don’t get a whole lot out of. There are isolated moments here and there, particularly the more ambient sections, that I can dig. But on the whole, the album does little for me.
But that shouldn’t be considered dissuading. If experimental, abstract electronic minimalism appeals to you – by all means, check this out.
Only Death Is Real 