KILOFRAX "TRAVELING" REVIEW
Genre-bending, sample-collecting duo Kilofrax’s freshman EP, Traveling, has arrived just in time to be the soundtrack to your spring cleaning or the walk you take outside to avoid it.
Recorded across New Ulm, Minneapolis, and Chicago, this project went through a digital journey of its own in order to arrive to listeners on March 5, 2021. According to Kilofrax’s Bandcamp page, Traveling began development in the fall of 2020 and was finished in the winter of 2021 in preparation for a spring release.
To preface, Traveling truly feels like a trailblazer in both native sampling and creative instrumentation. The duo’s incorporation of vocal melodies, intimate recordings, and unique rhythm patterns makes the project feel both curated and sequential when listened to in its entirety. Clocking in at five tracks totaling 15 minutes in length, the personalities behind the EP, Ash Wood and Miles Irwin, leave no room for filler as they swiftly bend the sounds of our world to create their own.
The first track of the EP, “Morning Departure”, playfully welcomes the listener into a beautifully crafted soundscape. Within the first few seconds of the track, listeners are decisively snapped into the world of Kilofrax, leaving everything behind to chase a dynamic synth rhythm. As the track continues, the duo slowly introduces its listeners to their unique collection of ambient textures, intricate violin riffs, and intimate vocal samples, creating an engaging listening experience that could put a spring in anybody’s step. It becomes immediately apparent that the tactical placement of these sounds was no stroke of luck, and the duo clearly has a story that needed to be told. “Morning Departure” serves as a wonderful introduction into the songs following it.
The third track of the EP, “Winter Station At Nighttime”, creates vivid imagery and feels extremely personal. Not only is this track both cinematic and sensational, but it also perfectly captures the feeling of the location described by the title. The quiet bells and piano melody perfectly correspond with this location’s themes, especially when the violin, guitar, and drums all come together. I’d say that this is my personal favorite track of the EP because I truly feel like I am at the location the title describes. The steady tempo reminds me of when I have to wait patiently for public transit at my university during the winter, but the instrumentation reminds me of past holiday memories, making me feel comforted and at ease. Although the instrumentation is comforting and familiar in this song, the duo still finds a way to use unique production techniques to make the audio their own. These techniques remain consistent throughout the entirety of Traveling and act as the creative duo’s musical signature.
In “Plane”, Kilofrax takes listeners high into the sky. After being introduced to a few more samples, listeners are immersed into a dreamy piece peppered with unique production quirks and distorted vocals. As the track continues, lyrics are also introduced. The addition of a soft voice whispering short, tranquil phrases creates a sense of closeness that makes the song feel extremely personal. Whenever I listen to this song, I feel like I am sitting on a plane watching the clouds fly by with a loved one. This feeling of closeness can be especially difficult to find, making this song even more special.
In contrast, listeners are grounded with the fourth track, “Where We Are Now and How To Fix It”. Footsteps crunching through snow lead listeners through emotional violin riffs, piano melodies, and complex production patterns. In Kilofrax’s RadioK interview, Miles communicated that this track had been in production for over a year prior to its release, which reaffirms how selective and curated this project is. The duo introduces us to conflict but quickly resolves it by transitioning to the final track.
Lastly, the EP concludes with “Two Steps from Harbor Shore,” a heartwarming, acoustic-folk song that feels like a close friend you confide in. The mellow vocal delivery creates a calming sensation as the lyrics dive into themes of reassurance, contemplation, and excitement for the unknown. As Traveling ends with its final verse:
“As these fuses blow out
And the buildings all around
Begin to topple down
Where will you be standing?””
the duo creates a powerful, candid moment of introspection. The final verse forces the listener to look inward to find what they are looking for instead of outward to the collapsing world around them. This moment felt like a cohesive ending to the Traveling EP, but it still left me excited for more. From my personal perspective, it feels like Traveling acts as a map in two different ways: it gives listeners a guide to personally reexamine themselves and a framework to interpret the duo’s music in future works.
Above all, Traveling is an impressive debut that starts an exciting auditory journey. Its music is complex, expertly crafted, and deliberate in its delivery. Although I personally recommend that listeners digest the entire project from start to finish, all five of its songs could make perfect additions to any relaxing playlist you might have. It’s only a matter of time before this duo is recognized for their precision, talent, and noteworthy musical signature. Listen to Traveling on Spotify now!
Below is an excerpt from Melodic Noise’s interview with Kilofrax. Check out the full interview on our Patreon.
(Melodic Noise) What is the origin behind the Traveling project? What inspired the EP? How did you approach its creation?
(Kilofrax, Miles Irwin) From the time that we finished up the Dispatch from the Helm of Maple Hill/New Maneuver release, we asked what the next logical steps were for us. I was personally in the position where I wanted to push my production techniques and mixing a huge step further. I felt confident enough in my skill because I’m at college working on audio recording. The basis was to push ourselves to make something really impressive for ourselves.
(Kilofrax, Ash Wood) I agree with that. Specifically, with Traveling, it was really built off this idea of “adaptation” and learning [about] all these new places we were in. For the first time, Miles and I weren’t living in the same city. That was really weird to deal with. With Traveling, we wanted to build something refined with purpose that represented the changes we were going through.
(MN) Throughout the creation of Traveling, did you guys learn anything about yourselves or develop new musical techniques that you might apply to new projects?
(AW) What I’ve noticed recently is that Miles really has a vision. He has sounds that he envisions. If we don’t create them in the way he wants, he’s not going to lie about it. [During Traveling], he did not stop until we actually got what we wanted. That is why Traveling is really refined and perfected in our minds. It would be hour eight or nine into the day and we would still be mixing and Miles would say “no, I’m not going to stop until we achieve what we really want”. I really appreciate that, and I think that’s something that you’ve developed [Miles]. I don’t know if our satisfaction would be up to the level it is if we didn’t have that determination.
(MI) I’m so happy to hear that. From the get-go, [I was] frustrated with the time restraints of the first two releases. This time, I didn’t want to leave anything up to chance and do everything right. It was awesome to have Ash onboard with that. Even if I was prompting something, [Ash] would take it and elevate it to degrees I couldn’t imagine.
(MN) When shows are safe again, what should fans look forward to when they come to a Kilofrax show?
(AW) They should look forward to us looking forward to it! I think that’s what’s going to elevate our music. We have all these visions, and that’s a lot of what we think about. We’re super excited for it and all the ideas we have.
(MI) That’s it. People should look forward to the energy, because I think [Kilofrax] in a live environment will be a new experience for a lot of people. I just want people to hear some breakbeats super loud! This whole summer, we’re going to be figuring out how to do these live shows, and hopefully, in the next year we’ll be able to present some of it.
(AW) Something that will be very different is the way that we sequence our songs and the sounds that you’ll hear. Traveling is very open and clean, but we have ideas for different sounds that would work better in a live environment. It would be much cooler to fill a room or stage with deeper sounds that you can feel in your chest. We’re more excited about this than recording anything and putting it out. [Also] the way that we sequence our tracks. Some may drone on longer, or we [might] create intros or transitions to certain tracks. That’s what gets us very excited--making a new way to enjoy a set of music from start to finish.
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Review and interview by: Sam Theiste, Writer @SamTheiste
Edited by: Eric Martin, Writer/Assistant Editor @eamartin95
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