Moya81 – Sensoria (Album – ScentAir Records)
Genre/Influences: Electro-Pop.
Format: Digital, CDR.
Background/Info: After the 2019 promising mini-album “ESP” we now get the first full length from the Chile project Moya81. The album features nine songs and claims to be inspired by different music genres like Electro-Pop, but also New-Beat, Italo-Disco and EBM.
Content: “Sensoria” sounds a little bit different than the ESP-release. I experienced this work as less varied although it remains a crossover of different Pop-related music genres. The astral sound treatments remain of the project’s main characteristics. The robotic vocals parts accentuate this space-like dimension although there’re also multiple passages with clear vocals. Among the different influences I noticed some Cinematographic passages and that’s especially because of the typical bleeps reminding of video games ao. Other songs are experimenting with Minimalism while I also noticed one more Techno-orientated cut. One of the songs (cf. “Plus”) was originally released on “ESP” and reworked for this album.
+ + + : “ESP” was definitely one of the best ScentAir productions I heard and “Sensoria” only confirms the potential of this artist. The sound is a bit different and I should dare to say maybe not that original as “ESP” although it remains a creative and fascinating experience. “Personal Connection” is also an ‘old’ song, but has been remarkably adapted into a refreshed edit featuring fine, bleeping sequences and a nice twist between robotic and clear vocals. But the real surprise of the work is the minimalism running through “Amor” and “Trom”, which in a way stands for the visionary side of the band. “Trom” also has a kind of Technoid implant, which makes the track even more interesting.
– – – : There are numerous space effects running through the album, but it sometimes feels a bit abusive, these effects being not exactly the most convincing element of the production.
Conclusion: I definitely prefer the previous work of Moya81, but this album however sounds like a creative and efficient production revealing a personal vision in Electro-Pop music.
Best songs: “Personal Connection – Sensoria Mix”, “Trom”, “Amor”, “Digital World”, “108”.
Rate: (8).
Artist: www.facebook.com/moya81
Label: www.scent-air.com / www.facebook.com/ScentairRecords
About Moya81
Moya81 is based in Helsinki, Finland, but grew up in Santiago de Chile, where the artist first encountered electronic music, according to a 2020 Side-Line interview. The mini-album “ESP” (2019) was Moya81’s debut on ScentAir Records; Discogs lists a run of further 2020 singles (“Traditions 14”, “Highenergy”, “Blue Monday”, “Der Mussolini”, “Network Schlender”, “For Love”, “Seekers”) leading up to “Sensoria”, reviewed here, with “Libertine 16” and “Syncobot” following in 2021.
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I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.
