The appeal of laser light shows seems pretty obvious: the colors, the music, the whole retro thing, the lying down. The being high. And, of course, the laser beams. I have no idea if New York musician and analog synth freak Morgan Z, who records halogen-coated, futuristic movie anthems as Chrome Canyon, has ever attended one of these events. But if his debut album, Elemental Themes, is any indication, the guy's a season ticket holder. As a student of sci-film film composers like Vangelis and Wendy Carlos, Z works on a cinematic scale that ranges from over-the-top to the completely ludicrous: Synths blare with a strange regality fit only for the coronation of a new Martian emperor, Theremins squiggle, keys and effects dart back and forth over too-crisp snare cracks and ballooning bass cushions. But unlike the celluloid images that those aforementioned composers had to work with, Z's inspirations feel decidedly less celebrated. Simply put, Elemental Themes is essentially the score to your favorite "Mystery Science Theatre 3000" episode, only this time, the commentary is up to you.
Elemental Themes is a record that really only works on one basic pleasure principle, which is to cram as much B-movie imagery into your head as possible. Outside of the Laserdome or, say, to soundtrack some niche brand of intergalactic LARP-ing, there aren't many applications for the music that Z's so carefully conjured here. You certainly can't dance to it, and while it might seem like a decent headphone voyage, Z's vision of the future is so magnificently crystalline and PG-rated that even the application of the most righteous bud wouldn't be necessary to induce a fit of the giggles. Instead, it's like living inside the cover of a dime store sci-fi novel, packed with vignettes so brightly colored and shameless in their triumphant hero themes that it's hard not to find them endearing in the dorkiest manner possible.
By all accounts a maximalist, Z hybridizes Giorgio Moroder's cheesiest impulses with the bombast of Queen's Flash Gordon theme, goofily refracted through the synthetic grandiosity of Mannheim Steamroller. Each track, highlighting either a playful wonder or a vague sense of danger, feels like setting first foot onto an alien landscape, only to reveal the most masterfully tacky soundstage imaginable. Though Elemental Themes lacks a traceable overarching narrative that would've really required a set of 3D glasses, it's still a record that only a guy wearing these glasses could possibly make.
To those not in possession of a 12-sided die, this probably doesn't sound terribly appealing, but it's important to consider that Morgan Z has talent. Using live instruments run through hand built compressors, Elemental Themes sounds impossibly clean and surprisingly layered, not to mention immaculately arranged. As one of the final recordings mastered by Nilesh Patel (Björk, Daft Punk), its magnified scope and clarity suggest that it was run through a crystal ball before being committed to tape. For something that's ostensibly a passion project, the level of investment is not only commendable, but it ultimately also pays real dividends. Just ask Morgan Z-- Top 40 indie poppers Foster the People themselves commissioned a Chrome Canyon remix of that song that drives you fucking nuts.
Z's vision may be an outsized one, but when it's this well-executed and admirably nerdy, depending on your tolerance for what he does, it can reap fleeting rewards. It makes sense that, at almost an hour, it wants to make good on fulfilling its feature-length ambitions, though even the most devout midnight movie synth-pop fans will still find it a bit much. But if your town happens to have a planetarium and you don't have a date on a Saturday night, there's not much that's going to stop you from enjoying this.
