Maximalist EDM is out, minimalist electronic focused music is in! So sayeth the industry journalists who have proclaimed EDM dead via Chainsmoking; so soundeth the melancholy and moody Property// in their single “In Contentment” from their album of the same name.
A circuitous synth sequence travels throughout the piece and provides a harmonic backbone that feels unsettling yet familiar. This is quite fitting when you know that the song is an account of two of songwriter/vocalist Charles Harding’s recurring dreams: a sentimental tableau of a son and a father and an uncomfortable look into familial mourning. The textural work across the song is particularly fantastic for three musicians, even if one of them is responsible for the modular synthesis with its evolving filters and parameters. The post-rock reminiscent guitar and effected cello provide the quiet hums, grandiose swells, and everything in between that pulled me into Harding’s dream world. The haunting refrain “[they] don’t speak” says a lot with little, and one could say that is the mantra for the totality of “In Contentment”. If you wish to hear more (but not MORE) than you owe it to yourself to hear the rest of In Contentment, whether it’s digitally, in person during Property//’s Spring 2018 tour, or somewhere in your dreams.
