With little information circulating about the duo, the anonymity surrounding February’s Album only adds to its sense of mystery. “I have a long-lasting obsession with perfect loops that you feel you could listen to forever,” Zwanikken said in what appears to be the group’s only published interview, and you can hear that fascination in the way these tracks lock into their grooves early and subtly explore their curvature. The dubby rhythm of “Myopia for Kindness” has a weight that heaves like factory gears shifting, layers of steamy reverb billowing off in waves, yet with an intimate clarity gifted by Brooklyn Mellar’s misty voice. Guitars practically seep from the mix, spiraling downward alongside the endlessly crashing hits of “The Moraliser,” and sidewinding through the barren, beatless “Window Down,” wobbling through a veil of unsettlingly phased out tape hiss as if Codeine took the wrong medication.
But there are plenty of other influences whirring away under the hood, too. You can hear the sickly rhythms of Seefeel and Bark Psychosis commingling with one another, radiating a shimmering coarseness that’s equal parts Chain Reaction and ’90s Kranky. It all blends together to give February’s Album a unique nocturnal glint. When the duo does commit to laying down beats, they do real justice to the dark, otherworldly feeling those old trip-hop classics captured, but from a fresh, blurry perspective. “Thinking Woman’s Lament” is a particular highlight, seemingly materializing out of nothingness; its hypnotic pulse draws you in even as Mellar’s detached voice remains hazily out of reach. Toward the end of “Limbo,” all the flickering sounds the band has woven throughout suddenly drop out, leaving only a guttural throb of bass in its wake. Hysterical Love Project never feel like they’re simply performing easy nostalgia tricks. You’ve heard these sounds before, but they’re not quite like you remember. They slip through your fingers as you try to grasp them, and the best you can do is watch them slither away and start to change again.
