Brighton’s Phoria have been simmering upon the electronic-pop surface for a while, biding their time before releasing any content in an LP format. Since relocating around the country, they settled in Brighton back in 2009 before resting and forging plans for releases; the forging process took a while as, being the masters of their craft that they are, they obsessed over every last detail. Having previously released a flurry of EPs in the form of 2013’s Bloodworks and 2014’s Display, music fans were given an insight into the decaying, throbbing electronic pulse that these five gentlemen touch upon. Songs such as ‘Emanate’, ‘Red’ and ‘Undone’ all of which feature on earlier releases have all made the cut on their upcoming debut, Volition. What has captured much of the musical mind, particularly their local fanbase, is the mystique that has evolved around them since their incarnation and as to why it has taken so long to release some content. It appears the intrigue is to be answered here as Phoria begin to prove that patience is in fact a virtue that needs respecting.

Drenched in textures, opaqueness and ethereal sounds, the musicality of Volition is one that certainly brings about hallucinatory soundscapes. It is calm enough to keep you grounded but simultaneously, elevatory in an insular sense. Opener on the album, ‘Melatonin’ cuddles you with its Atoms For Peace-styled bass structure that cuts in at the beginning, it brings about subtle drops in tempo and the bass and rhythm sections roll against you. The Elysian vocals begin to usher you underneath huge synthesised soundscapes, much in the fashion of James Blake with his austere style. It is really the contrast of sounds within ‘Melatonin’ that bring about the enormity of the sound, it is the conflict between the delicate and the forceful that really makes listening to it such a joy.

Phoria stand at their finest when they engage with the shifts in volume, it is in the sudden drops and the divergence into different genres, from trip-hop, through to electronica, through to pop, there are hooks blended within sparse landscapes that suddenly spring to life. ‘Red’, a highlight of their previously released material, demonstrates this with its intriguing, almost reversed methodic keys. It gives it an eerie undercurrent, something exceptionally dystopian, ultimately though it is something that is once again calmed through Trewin Howard’s gentle vocals. The harmony he shares with his surroundings allows for the drops to fall with delicacy upon the listener’s ears, no movement sounds too jagged and similarly, no movement is accidental. Everything about Volition feels purposeful. The rush of ‘Everything’ with its confrontational beginning that is raced along through epic guitar sounds that ring around, developing soundscapes in a style similar to Explosions In The Sky. Phoria are clearly no amateurs when it comes to constructing not just songs but the projected images that songs build.

What Trewin Howard proves with Volition is that he is a composer that the world should really take seriously and look to place on a pedestal with some of the best in the business. Songs such as ‘Mass’ demonstrate this ability with its satanic sounds and haunting delves into the higher pitches of his vocal reach. ‘By the Salt’ too leans upon the more alienating aspects of the musicality. The lethargic click of the drum in ‘Loss’ rings out, acting as a constant platform for Phoria to perform upon; enormous string sections begin to build as the song heads towards the midriff before launching you into oblivion, laser fuelled synths fire out either side of you acting in integration with the closing scene of Kubrick’s Space Odyssey.

What is remarkable about Volition is that it rarely becomes tiresome. You never find yourself rushing it along, despite its relatively long running time. Each song adds a different gloom-filled dimension to the structural album that Phoria are building. It is multifaceted from the off, each song evocative of a different emotion, from tension, through to anxiety and crippling claustrophobia. ‘Evolve’ plays on interesting time signatures that ripple around, prison-like in the way they sound but, what you begin to so frequently comprehend, is that it is Howard’s voice that is the saving grace to every cruel turn. Every disturbing sense is answered with the same resound understanding that he is your salvation.

Each sound moves with lethargy, each equally as interesting as the next however the downtempo nature can occasionally make it a fairly large chunk to bite off in one go. This is not to say the music itself is bad whatsoever, just to say the length of the album combined with the nature of the music allows it to be quite a long piece to embrace in one go, especially as you move to the back end of the album towards the likes of ‘Undone’ and ‘Saving Us a Riot’. What they offer as songs is the same gloom as the start, it just becomes hard to shift now – by now you want some divergence in tempo, in rhythm and in atmospherics. Ultimately though, as you pull closer to the album’s end, the predominant strings of ‘Yourself Still’ grow in to the album, offering the sunlight to the aforementioned gloom, the creeping light at the end of the tunnel.

Volition is an ambitious album, an album shrouded in mood, in darkness mainly and in the foggy haze of lethargy. Testament perhaps to the group’s long-standing dwellings in Brighton, the album rarely diverges from the gloom until its end at ‘Yourself Still’. However, ambition is what music needs, particularly in places such as Brighton where generally, scenes can build and eventually just become replicas of one another. Phoria act as a way out for many artists and perhaps a platform for other local electronic composers to work with. Volition is an interesting album and certainly worth a listen, if not as a whole piece, as individual dissections of the album. Each song offers an insight into a different mood, a different ambience and ultimately a different sensation.
Tom Churchill

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