Review- coins by AMOEDO

AMOEDO, Long Island-based electronic musician and vice president/co-founder of the art label Foursix, has done a lot for himself in the last few months- his first EP, coins, was just released on April 6th… 4/6, rather. As someone who only recently started appreciating electronic music, I can honestly say this EP made me appreciate it more. I know “electronic music” is a very, very broad term, but there is no way to accurately pinpoint the exact genre of this album. At times it’s ambient, and at other times it sounds like chiptune. It’s a unique blend of the two. It’s playful and light-hearted, but has a sense of maturity about it.

The four song EP opens up with “rain drops”, which is also the longest song on the album- just under two minutes long. The first time I listened to it, it didn’t entirely catch my attention. It turns out I was just biased, probably because it was only seven in the morning. The introduction to the piece is slow at first, and very peaceful, but bit-by-bit AMOEDO introduces more upbeat sounds over the original loop, while keeping the peaceful undertone. It’s ambient, but also lively, and gives the listener a good idea as to what they have in store for them. 8.5/10

The second song, “mint”, also has an ambient sound, but definitely different from the opening track. It’s more repetitive, but not necessarily boring. About halfway into the song, AMOEDO throws an interesting break- the original loop fades out with a much more 8-bit sound slowly coming over it, without being too intrusive or completely changing the song. Though not my personal favorite on the album, definitely not something I would regret listening to. 8/10

Third track, also the title track, “coins”, is beautiful, but strange. Much like the other tracks, it comes off as ambient and almost calm, but also has the sense of playfulness previously mentioned. It’s hard to accurately describe the sound in writing, but if you even remotely enjoy electronic music, you will most likely enjoy this- especially if you enjoy happy songs. There’s an air of positivity and energy to it, that you can only really experience in listening to it. 10/10

“jukebox”, the closing track, is the most pumped up and energetic song on the album. The beginning sounds almost like MGMT, so if you enjoy them I would check this song out, but it still sticks to AMOEDO’s unique sound. It’s something that definitely gives the listener the urge to move, but without being too overbearing; it also sounds like something that you can unwind to, two things that I don’t believe are easy to mix. 9/10

AMOEDO lists his musical influences for the EP as Jahnei, Verdé Madera, Cashmere Cat, Lido, and Sam Gellaitry. Jahnei and Verdé Madera are also artists on Foursix, so if you enjoy AMOEDO I would highly recommend looking into their music. Altogether, the album gets a 9/10. It is available for free download on both AMEODO's SoundCloud and the Foursix website.