At War With Walls and Mazes

Album Review

Classically trained composer and pianist Ryan Lott takes the anticon-approved electronic route on At War with Walls & Mazes, which he performs under the name Son Lux. Combining samples with electronic and live instrumentation, Lott writes sad, lush music that never forgets its sense of composition and melody. The most interesting songs are those in which he plays with the mix, letting his vocals fall under the layers of strings and chopped bleeps — like in the lovely "Stand," which erupts suddenly into female operatic vocals, drum rolls, and lots of piano while the line he'd been singing since the beginning ("You stand between my and all my enemies") fades distantly away. Musically, although his pieces are more successful as background music than actual songs, Lott is certainly talented, and At War with Walls & Mazes is an ambitiously detailed and delicate album, although not entirely unique.