Review

Bye Beneco’s new EP, Leaving All The Time, is a vibrant journey through gorgeously rendered synthscapes

Bye Beneco dropped their latest EP, Leaving All The Time, after their relocation to Berlin–and it’s a gorgeously rendered audial journey of synth and stylised soundscape. 

Lo-fi tendencies hinge on strong psychedelic influence and enough variegated synth to make you swoon. All the while they’re waxing poetic on embracing change – which is deeply apt given the circumstances. 

Broad, sparkling synth opens the EP on “Daddy’s Gone”–hinged on a driving beat bred to make you move and centred around silvery considerations after losing a loved one. It’s weighted in emotion and effortless atmospheric texture. The whole EP feels, in fact, like one extended synth journey, shifting naturally from landscape to landscape (or should I say soundscape).

“Blue Collar Cowboy” is peppered in lulling dissonance as they consider the age-old dilemma of staying or going, “Even Now” is propelled by breathy textures over dynamic, immersive synth beats, while “Devl Eyes” is a little darker – fibrillating synth bringing the psych element into sharp relief. 

But the real kicker comes in the form of their Lucy Kruger collab, Red Dress” – which dropped late last year–as well as their closing track and MISSU collab “Baby I’m Gold”. Both channelling a sort of vibrant, driving energy. Subdued beats keep the rhythm at the fore, while vocal trade offs bring a refreshing vigour to it all. 

All in all, Leaving All The Time is replete in impressively tempered synth crosswires, expertly delivered in an EP which carries you effortlessly through to the end.

Feature pic supplied by artist