Night Driving Avenger EP (Perturbator)

NIGHT DRIVING AVENGER EP
by James Kent
aka
PERTURBATOR

01	Grim Heart	05:35	by Perturbator
02	Electric Dreams	04:45	by Perturbator
03	Night Driving Avenger	05:00	by Perturbator
04	Miami Sunsets	03:27	by Perturbator
BONUS TRACK
05	I Ran to the Arcade	03:01	by Perturbator

THE NIGHT DRIVING AVENGER PATROLS THE STREETS OF MIAMI IN A QUEST FOR VENGEANCE FOR HIS LOVER'S DEATH. THE WOMEN HE SAVES ECHO THE PAIN OF HIS PAST, BUT HE HIS BOUND TO HIS DUTY WITH A GRIM HEART. THIS IS THE CORE OF PERTURBATOR'S CRAFT - CINEMA, DISCO, DARK SYNTH, SEXPLOITATION, AND VIGILANTISM. "GRIM HEART", WITH ITS SOUNDTRACK-STYLE PROGRESSION, IS MY FAVORITE, BUT "ELECTRIC DREAMS" OFFERS A RARE GLIMPSE OF TECH NOIR.

Night Driving Avenger is Perturbator's debut EP, laying the groundwork for the synth mastery that was to follow with Terror 404, then building to the phenomenal I am the Night. Back in 2012, vigilantism was on his mind, and it's about as universal a theme as you'll get in these dystopian soundtracks. Here, it's at the forefront in the title as well as the title song, "Night Driving Avenger", a superfast outrun track where you follow the eponymous character as he revvs his engine up to scour the night streets for in progress injustices. It's a nice track, but he'd use this as a template for greater efforts. "Payback Pursuit", off Terror 404, was the first, but both are eclipsed in my mind by "Raining Steel" from IatN and the cinematic "Return of the Night Driving Avenger" from the Nocturne City EP. It's great to see an artist improve on a format so handily.

I really come back to this EP for the other tracks, no insult meant. "Grim Heart" is my favorite, an atmospheric, story-telling piece of perpetual rain that builds its darkness before segueing into some great outrun and settling into a mound of tension as you're left to anticipate what happens next. The accompanying pic on Perturbator's Soundcloud hints perhaps at the origin of our mysterious vigilante. "Electric Dreams" follows, a moody cut of futuristic noir - featured in the normal ending of Hotline Miami - that feels odd but appreciated after the ramp-up from the previous outing. In terms of atmosphere, it's almost interchangeable with "Miami Sunsets", except the latter is far more danceable, an attitude that perhaps points the way toward more nocturnal activities. It points the way toward future nocturnal missions with some cautious optimism and is a nice way to wind things down after the action of "Night Driving Avenger".

"I Ran to the Arcade" is an interesting outlier, a chiptune cover of - duh - Flock of Seagulls's "I Ran (So Far Away)". You wouldn't know that the dark master had experimented with chiptunes without cracking open his early works, available in a link through his Soundcloud account, that features some chiptune noodling along with a fantastic EP - Tonight is the Night - that fuses his synth expertise with sparing yet integral chiptune usage. If you haven't heard of it, you should download it right away. More on that later. "I Ran" works, and it's a cool bonus track that makes Night Driving Avenger a fairly diverse EP, showcasing a side of Perturbator that's been rarely seen.

WHY YOU NEED THIS ALBUM: "Grim Heart" is fantastic. As a whole, it forms the foundation of Perturbator's future work. It's not my favorite, but it's pretty good.

WHERE TO FIND: On Perturbator's own bandcamp, here, at the very generous price of "name your own". There's no minimum, so get it for free if you're poor or some kind of heel. I recommend throwing money at the dude because this EP is cool and if I can help facilitate him make more like it, I will.