As a member of bands like
Crack Cloud and
N0V3L, Vancouver musician Bryce Cloghesy made tense but danceable post-punk of the sharpest variety. Jagged guitar lines and disco-punk rhythms gave those bands a driving energy and an aggressive spark, all of which is completely absent from Cloghesy's solo work as
Military Genius. Recorded in sections over a four-year period,
Military Genius' debut album,
Deep Web, is a collection of distant atmospheres and muted readings of Cloghesy's splintered songwriting. There are vague hints of a punk background that come through in the jittery drumming and fuzzy guitar of the album-opening title track, but instead of pushing the song into a fury, these elements blur into the background. Soft, slightly dissonant horn arrangements and airy vocals take over, recalling a more obtuse, jazzier version of
Arthur Russell's internal pop. Flirtations with jazz show up repeatedly on
Deep Web, with anxious saxophone riffs meeting a
Suicide-like drum machine rhythm on the ominous "When I Close My Eyes" and adding to the wobbly funk of "L.M.G.D." Cloghesy's muse is split between eerie ambiance and a cracked, minimal kind of R&B. The lo-fi synths and drum machines of "Not Tonight" lean into a weird groove, while the beatless, delay-coated "Reflex" hangs suspended in a dreamlike drone. "Focus" splits the difference, with far-away vocals riding a relaxed drum pattern and various underwater melodies. The song captures the airy drift of
Talk Talk but filters it through the same demented production sorcery as
Ariel Pink's early home recordings. The atmosphere
Military Genius achieves on
Deep Web is dark without becoming menacing. It's a deeply isolated sound, but the engaging songwriting and wealth of lush textures keeps the songs from landing in "difficult listening" territory. Cloghesy's sounds don't invite you in as much as they let you know they don't mind that you're there observing. It's a unique songwriting perspective to have, and one that makes
Deep Web a bizarrely captivating experience.