Bear of Bombay - Something Stranger

by Julie Cruickshank

published: 5 / 5 / 2021

Label: Bear of Bombay
Format: CDS

Debut EP of synthpop soundscapes from Milanese musician and songwriter Lorenzo Parisini.

Review

Milan-based Lorenzo Parisini has played in the Italian Underground scene with several bands, including Sophia and Ride’s Mark Gardener. Now calling himself Bear of Bombay, Parisini has released his first EP. He calls his sound ‘Psychodreamelectropop’ an apt description. Recorded in Milan at Le Ombre Studio by Lele Battista and mixed by Enrico Tronci, this EP is an absorbing listen. Track 1, ‘Night Tree’, recalls Tangerine Dream with its pleasing rhythmic underlying structure, pulsing ‘synth carpets’ and lyrics acknowledging the haunting sense of the night forest: “My night tree/This black night you make me feel so safe/Sometimes you shine like a star/I feel your energy in my mind.” Second track ‘The Storm’ with its steady structured tempo and chiming synths brings to mind Kraftwerk, moving along through swirls, loops and bleeps as Parisini describes an encounter and mood whilst swimming: “I felt black clouds obscured my lonely soul/It was time to ask you who you were” ‘Lazy Day’ utilises rock guitar behind echoing layers of electronica to conjure up a dreamscape of sound. This song explores the conundrum of choice and low-lying depression - stymied by having too many things to do in a day, too many options, a day becomes an unproductive lazy day instead. ‘Follow You’, the impressive fourth track, is a mood poem heavy on bass with a vein of ringing electric guitar over trance-like waves. The final track, ‘Something Stranger’, is the most obviously commercial and catchy track, with a repeating vocal hook (“We are we are the enemies/We are we are responsible/Of all this taste of emptiness/That keeps us apart”), a song of alienation. Its hallucinatory sound is matched by the accompanying promotional video which shows robots exploring and dancing in a psychedelic alien city. Embracing the genres of newwave, dreampop, psychpop and shoegaze, this is an assured and enjoyable EP from a talented musician who deserves a much wider audience.