Opening with a stark, motorik synth rhythm, Can I Be Your Friend? – The debut EP from farmar (aka Amadeus Austrian Music Award–winning Vienna-based songwriter, producer, sound engineer, and composer Mario Fartacek) establishes a bold, brave base-level from the very start.
“Echo Park Fad”” builds in such a way – organically, which is kind of ironic when you consider the nature of the instrumentation – that keeps you waiting, anticipating that moment where it inevitably drops, or bursts. But it never does. An exercise in suspense and ambiance, this tight, taut piece serves as a spellbinding intro to a world of sonic exploration.
Up next is”Restless”, which opens with a striking guitar tone that is at first reminiscent of the sound of The Brian Jonestown Massacre. Very quickly, this becomes warped and forms part of the larger framework that goes on to almost feel like a Bonobo tune, if it were performed by Animal Collective. The impactful bass drum is used sparingly at first to add accents where necessary, but it gradually builds and becomes more prominent, forming the backbone of the song. The pulsating synths glide away to give the limelight to some minimal repetitive vocals, a mantra for the ones without rest. And then, at around halfway through, it all kicks off. Fuzzy synths, swirling instrumentation, and a wall of sound: It soars before settling back down again into its almost Balearic-feeling prior iteration.
“You Know Me Bette” opens with another quietly throbbing synth line, which is quickly joined by additional cinematic, atmospheric layers. The vocals come in, and we’re reminded a little bit of Danish indie group The Kissaway Trail (we think it’s because of the vocal style and the sheer size of the thing). It continues in this vein and is actually rather conventional compared to the songs that preceded it. We can absolutely imagine this soundtracking an emotional scene in a gritty drama, which adds up as his work has been used in films for the likes of FC Bayern, Die Institution – 100 Jahre Kicker DAZN documentary, FC Bayern Basketball, Zugvögel, and the short film Excuse Me, I’mm Looking For The Ping-Pong Room And My Girlfriend,…
“Give Me A Cal” starts incredibly gently. A lone acoustic guitar is joined by some warm, warbly, shimmery chords and – in time – some of those persistent synth sounds thatwe’vee come to know and love. The electronic percussion on this one is also doing some heavy lifting. Very basic but an absolutely pivotal compliment, it drives the whole thing. As the song proceeds, it grows large and comes into its own, and by the end, it’s basically an electro-psych wig-out, a world away from where it started.
The EP is finished off by the title track, “Can I Be Your Friend.” A bouncy, bubbly banger, it reminds us of fellow genre-blender Caribou or early Basement Jaxx (is that a sneaky Red Alert sample we detect?). It parties, pounds, pulsates, and pushes the album to its apex. It’ss a vivacious, victorious final roll of the dice on an EP that takes many risks and never ceases to surprise and captivate. He should be very proud of this.
Farmar is currently in the middle of a European tour supporting Atzur – we bet this stuff hits different live. Catch him if you can.
Written by Kinda Grizzly
