Body Drama are grand in every conceivable way. The project is unabashed in their love for creating expansive, loud, and cinematic soundscapes. The duo of John Osment (Producer/Songwriter) & Sydney Amanuel (Vocals/Lyrics) have extensive experience in the arts, entertainment, and film industry; something that’s lead to their current work being a sensory ride. Embarking on the journey of their EP ‘Out Of My Way’, necessitates you to surrender yourself to the landscape they create.
From the very first minute of ‘May Queen’, you feel like you’re in a movie. Hauntingly ethereal vocals set to an equally dramatic production backdrop completely encompass your ever sensation. As the vocals start to break to an almost static sounding effect, the production starts to grow louder and more bolder. Sydney’s transcendent ‘you only know how to hold me hard’ becomes the song’s firm anchor. On track one itself, the duo are able to synthesise elements of synthwave, darkwave, dark-pop, within a cinematic soundtrack sounding piece.
Their background of film composition is so wonderfully evident in each track, with an opulence that only that kind of experience could inspire. Beautifully atmospheric, and progressively more flamboyant as each minute passes, they are as immersive a project as one can imagine. You can’t just appreciate Body Drama in the background, you need to have headphones plugged in and allow yourself to be swept away. ‘Never Learn a Lesson’ for instance starts with intent, a slow and melancholic opening. It never hits a high point, maintaining a lull of three minutes that serves as a momentary break from the more monumental pieces on the album.
On the closer, ‘Heat Haze’ Body Drama choose to go out on a bang. A pulsating, synth driven piece that maximises every bit of Sydney’s fantastic falsetto, it hits a shattering crescendo in its final minute before coming to a standstill in a masterfully composed outro of vocal harmonies. For those with a fascination for the extravagant, the over the top, and the palatial, there are few projects out there as classy and glitzy as Body Drama’s latest.
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