Falling Islands Unsheathes New Wings With CYBXRANGEL, A Cinematic Electronic Opus

Falling Islands ascends with a renewed form as a producer and performance artist (Credit: Nic Wong [photo], Falling Islands [design])

If Falling Islands’ NETWLKR EP in 2023 set the stage for a vivid cyberpunk saga, their latest CYBXRANGEL offering is a form of divine transcendence into a realm beyond. Falling Islands has proven to be more than an adroit electronic producer, but a sculptor of auditory landscapes with the subliminal narratives they weave into their idiosyncratic instrumentals. While the BlackLight Tribe resident’s previous EP depicted a tenacious sci-fi metropolis, CYBXRANGEL opens doors to a liberal network of worlds; each with their own quirks and characteristics that exhibits the evolutionary arc of Falling Islands’ artistry. Like the neo-nuanced angel Falling Islands personifies in this new EP, they are brazenly taking flight with shiny new wings.

Despite this being a fresh chapter, you can still rely on Falling Islands’ proclivity for oeuvres of a cinematic nature. It’s a gambit that automatically has you plugged in as early as the EP opener, “BAD HALO”. A lovechild of synthwave and ambient influences, the brooding introduction sets the tone with warm, slow-attacking Vangelis synths, droning bass hums and grandiose guitars that soar with dreamy textures. It’s a first impression exuding a tint of mystery and unease, like a hazy sunrise rising from the ashes – cue the opening credits. The build-up naturally segues into the EP’s title track, which fascinatingly opens into a techno terrain with a juicy swollen pulse. Like a Mother Brain machine booting up, it is ominous and gloomy while overflowing with energy. And just when you think you have it figured out, it drops an ’80s-inspired interlude with more reverb-drenched elements, before ultimately unleashing a climax that pelts with almighty trance synths.

From techno to ‘extratone’, you’ll find it all in *CYBXRANGEL* (Credit: Brandon Koh)

“2024 was a year of great transformation, transfiguration, and transmogrification for me,” shares the homegrown producer on growth, a theme that pervades the EP. “When writing and producing this EP, I wanted to create a musical representation of the various new journeys that I was finding myself walking on, finding new shades and sides to my soul that I never knew were there, but yet were always there.” There’s indeed a sense of intrepid exploration that wanders within these tracks, stuffed with plot-twisting developments that catch you off-guard. You’ll find this in the multifaceted “B1N4RYBRKR” that possesses several parts, from its squelching acid assaults marching at an industrial pace to the placid moments rich with serene melodies, and not to mention its fiendish accelerated conclusion that evokes the ballistic genre of ‘extratone’. Yes, it’s a heck of a rush.

As Falling Islands branches further in their CYBXRANGEL journey, they summon the assistance of kindred spirits along the way. That includes dark-pop exorcist goneMUNE, who serendipitously performed with Falling Islands at a previous BlackLight Tribe gig where the latter unveiled tracks from the EP. Their collaboration manifests in “FREE THE VEIL” which appears on the EP as something different, noticeably being the only track with lead vocals. A haunting nocturne that’s both unsettling yet beautiful as it lurks and lifts, the duo compose an ode to solitude and the empowerment of moving on, pieced together within Falling Islands’ sonic signature.

Falling Islands performing with goneMUNE at a BlackLight Tribe gig (Credit: Brandon Koh)

(Credit: Nic Wong [photo], Falling Islands [design])

“Every track here tells a collective story of shedding old skin, and growing new wings, to become the boldest, truest, and most transcendent version of myself,” Falling Islands elaborates further. “Yet at the same time, I wanted to pay respects to all the people whom I used to be; the past still plays an important role in the aural character of each and every track of this EP.”

Just like how fabled angels can be both saints and sinners, Falling Islands’ CYBXRANGEL wields a spectrum of interpretations. But one definition is clear: it is a declaration of Falling Islands creating music at their best.