Martin Ruffin, a.k.a. the man behind the mask of In Lieu, has been making music under the moniker since he was 16, starting with a few ‘At The Drive-In’ like tracks for a GCSE project, moving to recording bare-faced (but very impressive) Owenrip-offs with the ‘Together EP’ in 2010; and most recently, to the Fuck Crz EP; a foray into the chillwave genre that pulls some of Martin’s musical past with it.
Pleasingly, Fuck Crz is the first musical release from Martin that doesn’t sound like a homage to a band or genre, but something novel, and far more interesting for it. The EP opens with ‘Sun’, a delightfully blemished song, full to the brim with guitars, keys and Martin’s slightly off-key voice. The strained vocals would be jarring to listen to out of context, but they are put to amazing use here; there’s no doubt that the off-kilter vocals are a conscious decision by the creator: if he can make the fully electronically programmed drums on this EP sound so convincingly ‘live’, then there is no doubt that he could subtly “T-Pain” a sung note into being pitch perfect if required; the choice to leave such elements within the tracks shows more than anywhere else on the EP, Martin’s ear for progressively layering sounds, to the point of near perfection.Competing with ‘Sun’ for the title of “Fuck Crz’ finest moment” is the out-and-out lo-fi dance track ‘Stala Knight’, complete with a legitimate dancefloor ‘drop’ two thirds of the way through; ‘Stala Knight’ acts as a great juxtaposition to some of the more subdued moments of the EP, particularly with the opening of the succeeding song, ‘Euthanasia’, the soft backwards looping sample and calmed keys are a short precursor to another drop, but one with a distinctly post-rock feel, and distorted guitars that are reminiscent of Martin’s previous endeavours into post-punk.
An EP successfully straddling dance and post-rock within the space of 2 tracks, is one that deserves to be heard, but disappointingly, Fuck Crz is perhaps cursed not to gain as much momentum as it would have if it were released in 2010 at the peak of the overall lo-fi electronica trend; however, by arriving ‘late’ and refreshing the chillwave genre with a dose of post-rock, Martin succeeds in separating himself from 2010’s heavily filtered hordes, his deft musicianship will hopefully not be under piles of chillwave’s untalented tag-alongs. It is clear, and very satisfying to hear that after years of experimenting with different sounds, Martin has found his musical niche; there’s a confidence in these songs that was absent from his previous work, something which will no doubt grow with time, but also with the universal praise this EP is bound to garner.
It’s cursory to end a review with a “watch this space” recommendation, but it is absolutely deserved in this case; Martin is currently working on new material, and you should all be very excited.
4.5/5
Download In Lieu’s Fuck Crz EP from:
inlieu.bandcamp.com
