Italian duo CUMINO was formed in 2010 by Luca Vicenzi and Hellzapop, and aim to explore their rather different skill sets to produce music that explores the contrasts between the gentle guitar motifs of the former with the electronic sounds of the latter. They made their debut in 2012 with the full length production “Tomorrow in the Battle Think of Me”, which was followed by the EP “Inner Voice” six months later.
The main feature on this EP is the composition The Voice Due to You, a combination of gentle resonating guitar licks and a subtly noise-infested electronic undercurrent. Intriguing enough in it’s own right as long as you enjoy such constructions, and while I generally do I must admit that this particular track wasn’t among my favorites on the album it was pulled from. Pleasant enough, but nothing that mesmerized me. The remix version, sporting distorted and treated sounds, a shorter overall take on the song and supplemented by rhythms that in my mind I’d describe as dub-oriented a nice and fairly different take on this song, but not to the extent that I’d herald it’s qualities in large letters. Pleasant again an appropriate word to use.
Choke Me Please follows next, sporting minimalistic guitar and electronic details on top of another bass and rhythms construction that comes across as dub-oriented in my mind, and this one stands out as the most interesting construction on this EP. The rhythms aspect managing to maintain a tension the guitar and electronics isn’t able to alone.
My Slow Horizon revolves around a spirited, repetitive acoustic guitar motif supplemented by frail sounds, with a toned down noise-oriented insert midways, again pleasant enough without managing to truly intrigue. At last we’re treated to a live take of When We Talk About Ourselves, clocking in at twice the length of the studio version and sporting a fair few moments of intrigue, but that does feel a bit too stretched overall.
Those who enjoyed Cumino’s debut album should be a fairly safe crowd also for this EP, and people with an interest in post rock revolving around textured electronics and frail guitar details should also find this production to be of interest. But first and foremost I regard this EP as one aimed at existing fans, and would advice potential listeners to lend an ear to this duo’s debut album before this one.
My rating: 64/100
