Bladee & Ecco2k — ‘Crest’ ALBUM REVIEW
The Drain Gang superstars effortlessly find their footing in new territory on their mesmerising collaborative album…
In a lot of ways, it feels like years of work have been leading to this moment. Beginning as associates of Swedish cloud rap legend Yung Lean, Bladee and Ecco2k broke away in the second half of the 2010’s to begin their own musical odysseys. And what a journey it’s been. Both artists have since made a name for themselves as purveyors of fringe music in the music collective Drain Gang — an impressively out-there cluster of minds that were laughed at a few years ago, but now seem outrageously ahead of their time. Drowned in autotune, their long-represented anime aesthetics, y2k-infused computer graphics and debatably ironic lyrics are now enjoying a resurgence at the forefront of Hyperpop music. Bladee’s progression to this point has been more obvious, his earliest releases mere ideas and demos of low quality in comparison to his latest output (2021’s The Fool is his best solo release yet), whereas Ecco2k has been more careful with his releases. To date, his only solo album, 2019’s E, an androgynous and exceedingly pretty pop album that remains, in my mind at least, as the best thing to come out of the Drain Gang camp.
Perhaps with the exception of Crest.
It’s testament to Bladee and Ecco2k’s genuine friendship that this album came out so beautifully articulate and atmospheric. Without it, the heavier themes the duo decided to tackle would have come off as half-baked or false. Instead, the singers go back-and-forth over ruminations on death and human purpose with real clarity and forethought; “we think we exist, that’s why we suffer, do we not?” Bladee croons in an ooze of autotune on ‘5 Star Crest (For Vattenrum)’, a nearly nine-minute stunner of a song that switches, you guessed it, five times in total. “Nothing is forever, and wishing will get you nowhere”, Ecco2k breathes earlier in the song, a sentiment that seems depressing, but is delivered with such beauty and excellence that it has the desired affect of making us think about life, rather than allowing us to chew on the greasy fat of a heavy reality like death.
Bladee and Ecco2k bring real vision to the project, lyrically and thematically the two have never sounded more cohesive, but it is through the production that the album really shines. Executive produced by long-time Drain Gang showstopper Whitearmor, Crest is above all a bouncy and atmospheric collection of songs that borders on childlike at points — it contrasts the heavy use of Christian iconography littered throughout the lyrics, and offers an antidote to the more euphoric sentiments around life and death. ‘Desire is a Trap’ is ripped straight from the Super Mario Bros. homescreen playbook, while album stand-out ‘White Meadow’ is a blissful melting pot of atmospheric bleeps and bloops, backdroping Bladee’s profound love/hate letter to the human condition of never being satisfied; striving for a perfection that likely doesn’t exist (“the years go on, life finds new meaning” and later, “deep deep down, silent shout / the flower sprouts, tries to reach for Heaven”).
While some will undoubtedly hear the project and think it no different to children banging their toy trucks together, those of us who understand Bladee and Ecco2k’s sentiment will know it’s all well-intentioned and actually very beautiful.
There’s is a childlike sense of wonder about Crest; an innocence that is free from the political trappings of gender and the boredom of current affairs. It’s refreshing to hear something that cuts to the core of what it means to be human, to ask questions but receive no answers, to run around aimlessly searching for purpose. If nothing else, Crest proves there’s a certain beauty to all that.
8/10
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Bladee and Ecco2k’s Crest is available now via Year0001
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Written by Connor Cudmore.
