Although it starts with a gentle rhythm, once Human Intrusion’s track 'Collider' fired-up, it hit me like a high-energy particle smashing through a cloud chamber - sparky, precise and strangely magnetic. As a science nerd with a soft spot for industrial guitars and synths, this track felt like it was engineered in a lab just for me.
The Naarm/Melbourne-based duo Lewis O’Brien and Penny Walker-Keefe channel the ghost frequencies of The Cure and Depeche Mode, but manage to splice in strands of more contemporary influences. The result? A sonic isotope that’s both retro and radiant.
Taken from their 'Fission' EP, Collider honours the Large Hadron Collider with a sound that’s equal parts mechanical and metaphysical. In some ways, it reminded me of Curve, with that divine rumbling, rollercoaster bass and appealing vocals performed with gothic lustre. A production which plays out as both elegant and powerful.
Amusingly, the EP is available in a limited edition floppy disc format - because why not fuse nostalgia with innovation? They do cool t-shirts, too.
Human Intrusion are smashing atoms and expectations. As colliders go, this is super!