Zomes - Earth Grid

It's been decided by higher powers that I'm a fan of Zomes (not sure why, something about punk, synths, DC hardcore, Baltimore and Lungfish...) so here I am reviewing their second LP 'Earth Grid', the follow up to their S/T debut (which I've not heard...) Zomes is a solo project from Lungfish guitarist Asa Osborne which basically takes the Lungfish blueprint of repetition and applies to synths instead of guitars. It works surprisingly well and further reinforces Osborne's genius as a composer. These tunes are incredibly simplistic and almost never stray from the one riff repeated for ages formula and yet by focusing in on its simplicity and managing the overall sound with a studious precision Osbourne has created a work that is bold, fresh and unique to his way of playing/thinking. His choice of synths and sounds is also very rudimentary and yet he manages to wrangle fifteen unique compositions out of his totally basic set-up. 'Earth Grid' is very much in keeping with the efficiency of his Baltimore / DC punk rock past yet it's applied to the maturing stage in everyone's life where they don't wanna spend every waking hour in a sweaty punk venue surrounded by youthful, wise-cracking kids. Makes for excellent late night home listening. Can be played and enjoyed at conservative volumes.