Boy Without Batteries – ‘Glass Cannon’ review

What does Boy Without Batteries sound like?

Tender punk chiptune like a Game Boy has been set on fire.

The review of ‘Glass Cannon’ by Boy Without Batteries

Chiptune artist Boy Without Batteries has been through loss, and that loss led to isolation and losing his creative spark. ‘Glass Cannon’ is an album designed to ignite the creative spark again. Composed on the trusty LSDJ, with a few additions of Sega Saturn sounds on a few tracks, this is a murky, dirty, and gritty album. It isn’t interested in being safe. Instead, it’s designed to make you feel.

There are a few gentle tenderpunk moments on the album, such as the opener ‘Shattered’. It beings with the glass cannon breaking before an acoustic punky melody unfurls. It’s the calm before the storm as the title track will whiplash you into submission for the next five minutes. It leaps beat styles, deftly mixing in different retro drum fills and mini explosions of drum n bass. ‘The Wired’ is far more caustic and aggressive. The bridge is entirely made up of bitchslap kick drums and rising siren bleeps as if your entire life is under attack. Whereas ‘the ‘Glass Cannon’ felt like a stealth track went to the nightclub, ‘The Wired’ is like happy hardcore went to a boss battle in a blankey.

‘Tension’ is the sole cover on the album, originally by Ryu Umemoto and Rye Takami. It fits in well tonally with the rest of the album, although it is the most melodic of the darker tunes. It has a proper synth lead and uses its rhythmic bleeps as part of the main melody. The synth plays more like a guitar compared to how Boy With Batteries usually composes, and it is a nice addition. ‘Heat Lightning’ is a spasmodic attack on the senses. The dark power chords and mixture of pitch-bent basslines and drum loop patterns make for a heady concoction. This is the most visceral the album gets. Be careful of your subwoofers; the bass-heavy bridge is designed to rumble your bones. It is a ruthless track and a favourite.

After all that chaos, ‘Asunder’ is a numbing tone poem, akin to a shoegazing chip synth. An exhale. A pause before we dive in for the finale, which is a much lighter affair. That brings us to the jungle beats of ‘Compassionate Face-Breaking Fist’. Not only do I love the name, but besides the breakneck (face?) speed of the rhythms, the actual bleeps and synths are quite soothing. Light arpeggios cascade over tape-thinned synth hues and vinyl spits. It’s like a mental clarity pill. That allows ‘Slow Burn’ to take over with a chirpy hip-hop beat. Everything about this screams mascot platformer from 1989 in the best way possible. It has a light and airy freedom to it, and the swing in the beat sells the narrative arc of healing and reignition. That is sealed with ‘Mended’, which plays out like a beautiful acoustic guitar ballad using some Sega Saturn sounds for the LSDJ.

Boy Without Batteries has made a rewarding and emotional rollercoaster with ‘Glass Cannon’. In half an hour, we go from the pits of despair to the forests of recovery, and it feels earned. The tender, quieter moments are beautifully put together, whilst the visceral hardcore, techno, and jungle moments are full of dark, bassy gurgles of sadness. Cole Jacques, aka Boy Without Batteries, rest assured, your creative spark is well and truly present.

Recommended track: Heat Lightning

---

Support Higher Plain Music

Higher Plain Music is part of the Higher Plain Network – a one-man indie media project. If you like what I do, please consider supporting me via Patreon for as little as $1/£1 a month. In return, you’ll receive additional perks for supporting me, such as behind-the-scenes content and free downloads. You can also donate using PayPal. Sharing the website helps too or using the affiliate buy now links on reviews. I receive a few pence per Amazon sale. All your support will enable me to produce better content, more often. I’d love to make this a full-time media network and your support can make that happen. Thank you.