- I always love a band that can fire up the ol' imagination. The music of Multiple Man sounds like it was recorded in East Germany in 1981, right before one of them was shot while trying to sneak across the Berlin Wall and the other was unmasked as the secret KGB operative that tipped off the authorities. This young Brisbane duo comprised of identical twins, which is, in itself, truly a surreal sight to behold when seeing them play live, have released a surprisingly excellent EP of primitive synth punk. This is a genre that, for the last few years, has almost solely been the well-earned domain of Melbourne. This is thanks in large part to the hard work of record labels like Nihilistic Orbs. Brisbane's tropical climate and happy bloody sunshine have made any attempt to match that kind of dark, artistic quality laughable and slightly embarrassing. I am glad to report that Multiple Man break that mold and surprise and delight on their debut self-titled release, which is available only on cassette for your inconvenience. 5 miserable songs of electronically dilapidated grandeur await.
Typecast sounds like it was recorded inside a metal box under industrial duress, a cold mechanical undercurrent efficiently expressing alienation in all its beautiful inhumanity. Whipping Boy trades beats for ambience and resigns itself to the abyss. For almost 7 minutes the track meanders aimlessly through an electronic desert of hopelessness.
Final track Spirit Level brings back memories of the classic tech-noir scene from the first Terminator film. Throbbing synth, trashy drum machine snare and a sickening, trebly guitar underline buried yet hostile vocals, the only audible words being the repeating phrase "it just doesn't ring true".
These are moody and inspired sounds that are surprisingly effective at evoking an atmosphere of ominous paranoia and perpetual dread. Brisbane might be somewhat removed from the stereotypical science fiction image of an oppressive dystopian hellscape, but with Queensland's sadly earned reputation as a conservative, cultural-backwater police-state, Multiple Man's bleakly nihilistic vision of electronic doom doesn't completely reside in an abstract realm. The terror and uncertainty conveyed on this EP could easily be experienced within the drunken zombie apocalypse that is Fortitude Valley on a Saturday night as much as in any scenario from a Philip K. Dick novel.

- Matt Kennedy.