[Audio] Mild Peril’s ‘Unknown Zones’

Chris Flatline has been a staple of the London Italo/EBM scene for years now. Whether promoting, DJing and producing, he’s always brought with him interesting futuristic beats and Sci-fi synth. His current musical project is Mild Peril, melodic and atmospheric Space Italo, the moniker under which he’ll be releasing a collection of tracks from he past three years titled Voyager 2010 in the new year. As a prelude to this album, Mild Peril is releasing a free (for a limited time) EP of evocative and involving synthesizer music, Unknown Zones, First Survey.

First up we should say that this is an EP you should give yourself some time with. Set aside forty minutes with this EP and some decent headphones and just sink into it. There’s no throwaway buzz track or this weekly floorfiller here, this is intricately crafted electronic music that can carry you with it on it’s cosmic voyage and that’ll stay with you for hours after you’ve finished listening. The record is essentially carved out into three zones, each one quite an epic synthesized experience, separated by three Orbs that serve to transition from one zone to the next. Mostly lush, atmospheric soundscapes, the Orbs not only cleanse the audio pallet but create a feeling of movement between the more recognisable tracks. Alpha Zone is classic Spacesynth with an analog twist, introducing itself with a beautiful, haunting electric piano and a future noir vibe before launching into an robo Italo beast with a wealth of musical nuances. Clocking in at just under ten minutes, Gamma Zone, is the biggest voyage that awaits the listener. Spanning a variety of moods Gamma Zone delivers a synthesizer narrative with rising and falling beats and some truly emotive lead lines. The EP’s climax is, arguable, Delta Zone. The closes thing to SynthWave on the EP, Delta Zone’s rapid fire arpeggios and twisting solos take it truly into Outrun territory, but it retains the analog feel and keeps both it’s uniqueness, and it’s place amongst the EP, providing the exciting pinnacle of the release. Unknown Zones, First Survey is most definitely an EP that should be checked out by lovers of both Italo & SynthWave, and of synthesizer music in general. Make sure that you give it the attention it deserves, you will be rewarded.