New York based artist and songwriter Chip Pirrs dropped his new record “A.S.M.R” on the 15th of February 2022, and it’s full of surprises. With influences like Radiohead, Alt J, Nine Inch Nails, Beirut, Francis Moon, and Interpol, Pirrs adds his own touch and sound by experimenting with sounds, melodies, and effects adding his own neat sharp production so, let’s see what he did with “A.S.M.R”
Our journey starts slowly with “A.S” which is a brief intro easing you into the world of sounds and rattling effects you’re about to enter. The journey officially begins with “Treasury Dept”, It starts with a mesmerizing mix of sounds and frequencies that goes straight to your brain with a deep ambient vocal melody filled with harmonies. This keeps on going steadily for a while until they were broken at the perfect timing by an odd beat that’ll grab you by the ears till the end. Things shift a little bit while keeping its general dark mood with “Make Waves”, it has a tribal feel with the little hyped percussions at the beginning before it starts calming down slowly and smoothly until they turn into pulses, and the whole tune turns into a soothing mellow tune keeping the ambient background, and then it builds up and down again like a wave keeping its dark mood with the ambient background and the violins like melody that made a great chang when introduced. “Runnin’” has a melancholic melody and mood although it is one of the upbeat songs on the record, Chip Pirrs kept on with his vision and sound throughout the whole record. it starts on a slow note but, the odd beats made it more dynamic and unpredictable and the voice effects choice was perfect. “M.R” comes next as an interlude easing you into the 2nd part of the record. “It’s All En Tu Tete” comes next with a percussive intro mixed with a consistent pulsing that built a lot of anticipation until we are introduced to some beautiful melancholic melodies that took my heart off. The creepy intro of “Special Surge” will slowly grow on you and when the fast beat kicks in it somehow start to make more sense. I like how Pirrs uses irregular patterns and odd beats in an interesting clever way. “A Little Blood” had a new approach with some acoustic sounds and some new melodies that sounded good but -from my humble POV- felt a little bit incoherent and needed something to bond all these sounds together. “Only Here” is my favorite off the record, it has a calming soothing melody that keeps on smoothly progressing into a multilayered floating stream of sounds, and reminds me of some of Bjork’s work. “Bye(Interlude)” is a fun interlude -DUH- that has some samples that I’m really curious about what’s behind it. “Geezughs” and “The Moment I Knew Pt. 1 & 2” ends the record in a mellow porgy way. They are extremely atmospheric tunes with complex overlaying patterns and sounds coming together in clear smooth harmony with some smooth dynamic ups and downs all within the mood.
“A.S.M.R” is a creative sonic experience that you have to get into with an open mind and ears expecting a detailed sound design and writing. It has its twists and turns and won’t stop surprising you till the end. It shows that Chip Pirrs is willing to experiment and not afraid to go places no one has gone before. Good luck Chip, cheers!
