Given the success of Australian producer Flume and his self-titled album, this young producer certainly had high expectations to meet in order to compare to his many award-winning songs, such as “Holdin On” and “Sleepless,” with his new three-track Lockjaw EP, which was released on Nov. 22, 2013.
Lockjaw was put together with vocals by Chet Faker, the producer of famous tracks such as “No Diggity” and “I’m Into You.” Given the past success of these two producers, the EP wasn’t what I expected it to be when comparing it to Flume’s last album, which won Best Independent Album and Best Independent Dance/Electronica Album during the 2013 AIR (Australian Independent Record Labels Association) Awards.
The EP starts strong with its first track of the three, “Drop the Game,” which, when heard for the first time, tricks the listener into thinking that the rest of the album will hold to its quality. “Drop the Game” gives off the same relaxed but jazzy vibe as most of the songs on Flume’s self-titled album, with its low, laid back beats that mix perfectly with the vocals.
However, things start to go downhill at the second track, “What About Us.” The song starts with a prominent beat and gives off a rather unique, trippy vibe, but that’s just it. After the beat, effects and vocals are established, they never change and I find myself sitting through five minutes and seven seconds of repetition. “What About Us” definitely gave itself a high chance to be a quality track, but it never seemed to take hold of that chance and really become interesting for the listener. A beat becomes much less fun to listen to after hearing it play again and again for more than five minutes.
Lockjaw wraps up with a track that I was only able to enjoy for about a minute and 40 seconds before it developed the same case of repetition that “What About Us” was plagued by. “This Song Is Not About a Girl,” the grand finale of the EP, isn’t very grand at all. Similar, again, to “What About Us,” it starts with a heavy, prominent beat that caught my attention, and around one minute and 22 seconds, it actually played some vocal splicing that really got me into the song.
But, that was all it had to offer. It then proceeded to play the same beat and repeat the same vocals, and, I have to say, the splicing was much less interesting to hear the second time around, being that they hadn’t been modified at all.
Lockjaw had high expectations, but only reached them with one of the three songs it had to offer. With more time, effort and creativity, I have no doubt that Flume and Chet Faker could have improved this EP into nothing less than a master piece, but repetition and relatively long songs just don’t mix well. Had the second halves of “What About Us” and “This Song Is Not About a Girl” been spiced up a bit more, the Lockjaw EP would have been a must-buy for EDM fans, but, unless you enjoy listening to the same beat, effects and vocals repeat themselves for a good four to five minutes, I wouldn’t suggest adding Lockjaw to your library.
