St. Louis’ MANAPOOL has been working hard in the underground and shows no signs of stopping. As an avid participant in the electronic sound with a clear influence from anime, videogames and internet culture, MANAPOOL has been sowing seeds all over the web and growing exponentially with every new release. Her latest album “ZODIAC CORE: OPTIMIZED EMOTIONAL STABILITY CONSTRUCT” appears to imply a sense of heightened importance and not only because of its overblown title. It is after all the first release so far where the artwork shows the artist photographed, and Hayden Molinarolo’s camera frame placed MANAPOOL in the middle of a gigantic church of all places — perhaps an invitation for communal gathering around the release.
MANAPOOL’s sound could be called aggressive, but it feels reductive to do so when contemplating all the silky textures atop the frantic rhythm. In actuality most of the songs on here come across as otherworldly waiting rooms, pushing and pulling the ear into a sense of virtual party. Throughout the sizeable track list warm and enveloping pads fill up almost every texture, familiar drum and bass patterns keep us grounded, nostalgic internet age sound bits stimulate our emotional perception and a clear love of the party and the rave bring the whole package to life. It is a varied run with plenty to go off of, and a powerful addition to the artist’s canon.
Follow MANAPOOL on Instagram here.
Listen to “ZODIAC CORE” via Deathbysheep Records’ Bandcamp below:
The St Louis Music Report 