Echomatica – Echomatica (13th Floor Album Review)
Echomatica arrive with a self titled debut album that favours texture over immediacy, building moody, slow-burning songs from synths, reverb and restraint.
Across the eleven tracks, the Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland-based quartet Charlie Maclean (vocals), AJ (guitars and programming), Matt Chong (guitar), and Scott Samson (bass) establish an immersive, cinematic sound rooted in dream pop, ambient electronics and post-punk melancholy.
From the opening wash of Breathe through to the closing shimmer of Pretending We’re Human, the band lean into atmosphere, layering guitar, synth and voice with a painter’s patience. It is music that values presence and space, a soundtrack to late nights and blurred thoughts. Love Isn’t Always, the standout and lead single, unfolds like a slow exhale, its chimes and discordant textures giving way to measured, emotionally exposed vocals. A stabbing guitar line near the end threatens rupture but is reabsorbed into the mix. It is an impactful moment that captures the band’s push and pull between tension and control.
Energy is used sparingly but effectively. Something stands out as the album’s most rhythmically direct track, pairing an elastic bass line with a rising guitar and a vocal that urges us to say the quiet parts out loud. The contradictory lyrics and melodic bass recall early New Order. That momentum returns in Waves, where fast, bouncing synths and pummeling drums build into an urgent crescendo before falling away. Month of Sundays also plays with dynamics, swelling into guitar squall before pulling back into a skeletal rhythm and vocal questioning.
Elsewhere, the band explore ambience and emotional drift. Technicolour Dreams is spacious and mysterious, the line when you’re next to me recurring like a half-remembered phrase. Comfort Me floats on gentle percussion and echoing guitar, suggesting stillness but never quite settling. Fragile World is more ominous, with whispered vocals, disorienting buzz and a rhythm that flickers and skips. It hints at danger without ever fully confronting it.
Throughout, Echomatica show a strong sense of tone and craft. Their sound is consistent and assured, the production warm and detailed. At times, though, they remain within familiar territory. The reference points are clear: The Cure’s melodic gloom, Depeche Mode’s synthetic pulse, Portishead’s slow ache, and the polished electro-pop of local acts like Ladyhawke. These are excellent influences to carry, but more risk, unpredictability or surprise would help stamp a more distinctive signature on their music.
Echomatica is a carefully made debut that is immersive, introspective, and rich in sonic detail. Its most compelling moments are those where the band lean toward contradiction or discomfort. They have already proven they can build from synths, reverb, and restraint. The next step may lie in how far they are willing to unmake what they have so carefully composed.
John Bradbury
Echomatica is out Friday, Oct. 10th.
