The single by Entropic Front, "Timing - One," is not meant to make you feel better. It really makes you want to sit up, squint, and think about why music is always expected to be pretty. Patrick Lee Cheatham, a former Air Force captain who now creates apps and electronic music, has written a song that is effective due to its intentional roughness.
From the outset, the track’s shifting rhythmic patterns become its signature, creating a sense of unpredictability that keeps the ear engaged. This sounds like a sculpture, with each sound carefully placed to make the listener feel something instead of relaxing them.
"Timing - One" does best when things are different. The quiet parts are just as important as the loud parts, and the space between sounds is just as important as the sounds themselves. Entropic Front skillfully balances cerebral and visceral aspects of electronic music. The sound choices seem very personal, but they were carefully planned.
Cheatham has worked with systems before, and he has overseen fortified U.S. food and drink and made Windows apps. This seems to give him a sense of precision that, strangely, accepts flaws. The different tones in the track don't just suggest emotional duality, they push it by using the tension between stale and vibrant, unsettling and captivating. This isn't music to listen to while you work; it's a challenge to think about what electronic music can be when it doesn't try to be perfect and instead embraces its style.
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