Synth A/B Single Review: “No Smoking In The Apocalypse” by Nakatomi FreeFall
by Karl Magi
Nakatomi FreeFall’s “No Smoking In The Apocalypse” is a deeply emotive and expressive exploration of complicated emotions and the way we must all navigate them. It journeys through many moods weaving music, lyrics and vocals into a seamless whole.
“Phenomenon” starts as vibrating drums move with static, sharply crackling sounds. Guitar begins to surge and writhe as a harmonica-like synth carries a hauntingly twisted melody. The foundation is gruff and slicing as Corey Rokkett’s echoing, dramatically expressive voice carries the ghostly melody while the piano unwinds with tender light.
Corey Rokkett has a classically New Wave sound, full of emotion and a theatricality which I enjoy. The seething low end contrasts with the gentler melody and the haunting guitar as the rhythm ticks. Marjie Velour’s voice has deep emotion embedded within it, mingled with lacerating guitar and the crackling background while the metallic drums rattle.
As a steadily vibrating sound moves with the guitar, it wriggles and twists with shadowy sensations and elevated notes cry out before silence falls.
"You ask an inch and take a mile," and the first narrator lets it happen because "I'm a prisoner to your smile and I fear you." He refers to the other person as a phenomenon who has him "spinning on a wheel." He sees her in his dreams like a phenomenon.The second narrator says, "You run so far and I pursue and you don't see the truth." She concludes by saying, "Understanding, piercing eyes, I feel you beside me."
Slowly rebounding synth moves with a computerized feeling to commence “Matter of the Heart.” Actively shifting rhythms move with Avro’s haunting voice as it drifts with deep feeling, while softly intertwining synth floats and the bass throbs. I enjoy Avro’s powerfully expressive, tenderly emotive performance, which carries the wistfully broken melody.
In the distance, quickly undulating tones move with the darkly slicing bass and trembling notes that carry a melody full of nervousness and pain. The variable percussion creates a solid foundation as the glittering notes wander, free and unmoored. Chimes flicker with delicate light as Avro’s hurting, softly touching voice unfolds with a pained melodic pattern. The underlying sounds add flowing fragility as the drums pulse to form a steady underpinning.
As the bending tones howl mournfully, the vocals call out with powerfully moving sensations. Wildly dancing, vibrating notes rise as the lead synth soars. Deep bass pulsates in broken lines as elevated notes flash with sunlight. The way in which the lead synth twirls and tumbles creates unease, while the powerful vocal performance punches the lyrics home. Shadow seethes along with wildly wriggling sounds before the song ends.
The storyteller speaks of "my devotion, discarded notions" as he feels like an emotionless statue. He adds, "I'm so young, still unsung, I don't understand your mother tongue." He describes the sting of leather, a silver ring, and a beaten fighter taking his final swing. As he stands still without any answer, he is "an animal in a paralyzed kill."
"Behind the screen, I watch unseen" as he sees "every pixel clean, delicious and obscene." The narrator describes the other person’s beauty and fanaticism pulling him apart in a matter of the heart. He speaks of things as "artificial, superficial, broken from the start." He goes on to say, "Grinding gears, swollen fears, I feel a chill from these deceptive years."
He isn't young anymore and he's still unsung but "I speak the words through your tongue." He talks of raising grasping hands in foreign lands while "ordnance pounds out any doubt." As the song ends, he says he'll "suffer consequences, surrendering defenses, true to form."
