If you have been following Jneiro Jarel’s output since his debut album Three Piece Puzzle, then surely you’ve picked up on the increasingly intergalactic nature of each release. Whereas once Viberia could have been considered a lesser-known suburb of Philadelphia, the sounds emanating from Jarel’s Android Love Mayhem EP suggest that it’s several galaxies to the left of where we currently reside. Dr. Who Dat? is back in the driver’s seat, propelled by low-end rhythms with amoeba-like structures, changing shape and genre without warning.
“Android Romance 1 & 2” presents Jneiro as cosmic crooner head-over-heels for his shorty, while amplified heartbeats provide the backdrop. “Going Home” (which features Apollo Heights vocalist Micah Guagh) is perhaps the one song on this EP that hovers closer to Earth’s surface, but only slightly. The 8-bit locked groove tethers the song and keeps it from spinning off into space even as the vocals become more elastic.
All of that ends, however, once Jarel flips the overdrive switch for “Black Blocks.” Sinister warbles bounce off break beats that build in intensity, making it the standout track of the EP. “Shadoze” concludes the brief journey on an ominous note as digital snares are cracked open by the suction of nearby black holes. Perhaps this is a sign of things to come, a forewarning of potentially deeper travels into outer space once the next full-length is beamed down into our atmosphere.
