Jeff T Byrd - Nighty Night
Nighty Night
Jeff T Byrd
EP
Experimental
Jeremy Sheehy
December 23, 2021
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Brain fog is a common occurrence for many, especially as one gets older. A feeling that often follows a moment in which you have processed a complex or large amount of information. You don’t feel like thinking about anything, you check out. It’s a numbing condition. A condition where you just want to lay down for a moment in a temporary state of stillness and not think.
The 2 track EP from Mom and Dad’s Computer processes this concept, a brief haze running under 10 minutes that encapsulates what it feels like to be in that foggy mind stasis. There is a considered method on the melodies of these tracks, with fluidity in transitions to keep the compositions gently passing to and fro in your head. The textures are cloudy enough to let the listener stay afloat, but there are aspects that are distinct, causing the listener to question whether they act as a suppressor or an inducer of that feeling of fogginess.
Consider the first track, 脳. Through the glossy synth pads and shuffling beat, they harmonise together to create the feeling of brain fog, wrapping around you like a cocoon. The guitar guides us gently as it passes through like a moth searching for a light source. Is it a red herring as the lilting chords submerge you deeper into the fog? Or is it a call for help, reaching its hand towards you so you can finally break free from the fog?
This happens once again on the second track, 霧. The source of that feeling of brain fog does not just come from the beat or synths, but rather from the interplay between the horns and the keys, constantly lulling you to that stasis. Yet, pay attention to the bass line underneath. It only peeks to play its full form once everything dulls down around the 2-minute mark and the ending, but it’s there throughout the piece. Does the subtle rumble of that instrument enhance the calming tone of the track, keeping you settled in the foggy soundscape? Or is it a galvanising tone, clambering for your attention amid the soothing bliss?
A dullness litters the mind when one experiences brain fog. But, the meditative feel of the two tracks can act as either a trick or a balm to one’s addled mind. Mom And Dad’s Computer pulls forth lilting and readable melodic throughlines that push through that fog with sullen instrumental tones and steady pacing.
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