The New Division is back with their new EP ‘Fader’. The New Division is the alias of electronic musician and producer John Glenn Kunkel before he later recruited some other band members. 'Fader' is another synth heavy release, and a great follow up to the 2017 EP 'Precision'.
I’m not going to lie, before 'Fader' I had never really listened to The New Division, so I went through their back catalogue and it’s clear that Kunkel is extremely talented. Having produced 3 albums and several EP's all with creative vision and a clear identity, it made the quality of ‘Fader’ seem less of an anomaly.
'Fader' begins with ‘One Night in Tokyo’, a Song filled with an almost familiar sound as if it was something I had already heard, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. The New Division is known for having massive influences from New Order and Depeche Mode and I think this song really shows similarities to those artists. ‘One Night in Tokyo’ also displays the artist's ability to put his own take on what could be an 80s classic. Matched with downbeat and gloomy lyrics it makes an almost perfect combination.
‘Jealous’ is also lyrically downbeat and gloomy and like ‘One Night in Tokyo’ focuses on the experience of losing love. The title track ‘Fader’ and ‘Sextext’ both lift the sound of the EP With more uplifting electro-beats and a dark synth sound it really changes the feel from the somewhat tenebrous start. My favourite song has got to be ‘Signs’. It is an extremely catchy tune which really grabs your attention. If any of the songs on the EP have a chance of being a chart contender, ‘Signs’ is the one.
The only issue I have with ‘Fader’ is the song order, grouping two sombre songs at the beginning and placing ‘Signs’ towards the end makes no sense to me. Especially with electronic music, I feel you have to grab the audience and drag them in from the start.
Song order aside, ‘Fader’ is another great piece of work produced by the extremely consistent John Glenn Kunkel, and I would definitely recommend having a listen to it if you haven’t already.
