Falling Satellites
Towerblock takes a familiar progressive rock sound and breaks open its electronic possibilities. The changes in texture are abrupt enough to be surprising, yet the song keeps a clear melodic thread. It captures what makes Falling Satellites so appealing: Frost* treat the studio as another instrument that can change a composition's direction.
The album establishes its emotional scale before that experiment arrives. First Day offers a brief, spacious introduction, with layered voices suggesting both welcome and uncertainty. Numbers then provides a more urgent rhythm and an immediately attractive vocal arrangement. The sequence makes a large sound feel inviting without pretending the music will remain simple.
Jem Godfrey's treatment of voices is particularly effective. Harmonies, processing and small changes in placement give the singing an active role inside the arrangements. The melodies are strong enough to survive the effects, so the production usually adds character instead of concealing an absence of feeling.
Signs brings a heavier guitar presence and a series of rhythmic changes. It has considerable force, though its position between Towerblock and Lights Out makes it feel a little less individual than either neighbour. Lights Out offers a welcome shift toward a gentler electronic pop sound, with the different voices making the song's openness especially persuasive.
The later sequence connects several pieces into a broader movement. Heartstrings is an effective entrance, combining a sharp synthetic sound with substantial guitar weight and shared vocal melodies. The instrumental passages that follow give the rhythm section opportunities to alter the momentum, keeping the music from becoming only a succession of bright keyboard and guitar leads.
Last Day provides the most important reduction in scale. After so much activity, its reflective character gives the album room to end with an exposed feeling. The change makes the larger gestures before it seem more human, connecting the record's interest in chance and existence with something a listener can recognise directly.
Falling Satellites is busy music with a generous melodic centre. Some of the detail competes for attention, but the best songs make their abundance feel purposeful. Frost* move between electronic playfulness, heavy rock and quieter reflection with enough confidence to make those different impulses belong to the same record.
