y introduction to IDM came with Autechre’s Tri Repetae. As a result, I labeled the genre to be sterile and difficult; the album’s beats are very mechanical, sometimes tiresomely so, and the solemn melodies are unyieldingly complex. And while I found this and many other acclaimed IDM albums that I listened to soon afterwards to be relatively enjoyable, my generalization appeared to be valid, allowing me to continue believing that IDM could not be as emotionally powerful as other forms of music


It wasn’t until early last year that I heard Múm’s Yesterday Was Dramatic – Today is OK. This album was entirely different from the “intelligent dance music” I had heard; it was playful, child-like, simple and melodic. There were no intentions to needlessly challenge the listener; Múm were out to make unassuming, natural electronic music.


Domotic’s Bye Bye, like Múm’s music, carries its listeners through a whimsical fantasy world where nothing is pressing and little is important. “Cyclatron” opens with a vocal sample of a student “ashamed because all the children were laughing at [him].” The sample’s exit signifies the beginning of our journey to this fantastical world as dreamy keyboards enter, alleviating such mundane worries and lifting us to a cheerier, less demanding existence.


“Smith Kline” and “Consilium_industri” are even more uplifting, with starry keyboards that dot gleeful melodies over simple glitch beats in carefree bliss. “Durchkomponiert” is the most playful track on the album, sounding like music for some sort of fabulous toy store.


That’s not to say all of the songs are characterized by such a buoyant levity as the aforementioned tracks. “Western Airlines” has a nebulous air of contemplation to it, lending an unexpectedly mysterious tone to the album. The tracks become increasingly lethargic and increasingly solemn as the album nears the finish. “Domestic Electrical Supplies” drifts away slowly and reaches the end of the album’s trek, before “Isometric Unit Construction” and “Kimberli” return us to our normal lives, like a conclusion to a dream soon to be forgotten.


Sadly, Bye Bye is a forgettable dream, however pleasant it is. While few of the tracks are derivative of any band in particular (this is putting aside “Western Airlines”, which would struggle to sound more like Boards of Canada), none of them offer anything very new to serious listeners, nor are any of them truly exceptional. Overall, it’s a wonderfully consistent debut, and a very good effort, but the talent that Domotic reveal with Bye Bye needs to be developed further; with a more innovative sophomore release, Domotic may prove to be one of today’s leading IDM groups.