Cacophony Kid, a one man band from Dayton, Ohio, follows up from their first album Sludge City, into the loud, dramatic, synth filled Convoluted as their sophomore piece. Self described as an anarcho synth punk project, Cacophony Kid does not disappoint in keeping a flow of lyricism rooted in cynicism and past experiences, while still encompassing you with the feeling of wanting to dance while the world ends.
The opening track, “Doppelgänger,” already sets the mood in a beautiful ambience, bringing in the vocals with the simple lines of “I think everything’s great / And I think we’ll be okay.” On the flip side, “Death Drive” takes an immediate 180, showing off skills in setting moods that puzzle pieces perfectly with the lyrics, giving a feeling of the hopelessness that all of us have felt at least once in our lives. “Death Drive” is a song that is not shy in sharing its own thoughts, mentioning humanity’s worst and wanting to give in to the destruction, but still being able to take a step back in self realization. Despite the pessimism, the instrumentals fade out to give the spotlight to the haunting, yet somewhat inspiring “Instrumental #1,” a track just shy of over two minutes of melancholy with a beautiful piano segment, combining the emotions with synths and the steady rhythm of drum pads as the song closes out.
The sixth track, “Dysphoric Mania,” is one that instantly gave me a futuristic feeling, yet delves into the idea of one day we’re going to die and we don’t know when! Will the future come? Who knows! “Dysphoric Mania” brings together the weirdness of finding love and end times that has itself being a showcase song off of Convoluted, bringing various elements of its fellow songs on the album, while also being able to segway into the higher energy second half featuring their friends Ryan Nicklas and Joe Howland.
“Nostalgia Bait,” the ninth track on the list, is explained in the name itself, blending early 2000s pop punk elements while also managing to keep the Cacophony Kid brain melting energy. Cacophony Kid mentions, “This song is very special to me. I wrote Nostalgia Bait to basically rip off Blink-182. It’s about nothing going right no matter how hard you try. This song features two of my very good friends Ryan Nicklas and Joe Howland. Joe lent me his voice and Ryan did some gang vocals and the guitars for it.” Despite the nostalgic elements that make up the instrumentals, the vocals of all three together kept it upbeat with a recipe of their own, with a favorite line of mine in just the first verse, “Tell me I’m alright / Act like you mean it.” No doubt, one of my top three off Convoluted.
The final three songs I believe are a wonderful run of closing tracks. Bringing the mood back down to where Convoluted started, with world ending ideals and the concept of everything just rewinding at the end of the day, starting the same feelings over and not being able to break out of the cycle. This allows for perfect repeats of the album, knowing that no matter how many times you will replay it, it will always end with the rewind effect and return to the beginning. This is evident in the final track, appropriately and cleverly named “What Goes Up.” A track that I can see clearly being played in a dim lit setting, both in house show hangouts and stages with strobe lights. Once again, possibly one of my top three tracks. Convoluted is an album that is not afraid to speak its mind, taking you through waves of emotion with its layered tracks, making sure that every note played is one that can be heard, but still blending perfectly within itself. Cacophony Kid is no stranger to raw feeling when it comes to music, and it’s highly recommended that you listen to both Sludge City and Convoluted back to back with just you and a pair of headphones.
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