Bill Leeb

When Bill Leeb announced his first solo album, and revealed that he would be joined female guest vocalists, I expected a soft, melodic album in the vein of Delerium. However, that’s not the case at all! This is Bill rejoining with Jared Slingerland, once a Front Line Assembly member, until he left for personal reasons. Now, he and a (so far) unknown second person comprise the production team “Dream Bullet”, which Bill collaborated with on all tracks. So the sound is definitely more in the FLA vein than anything else. And sort of a continuation of the sound on “Echogenetic”, which I guess is not that strange since I think that was the last time Bill and Jared collaborated.

This album has a great club feel to it, with some seriously fat bass lines on several tracks. For example “Muted Obsession” (one of two track featuring the post-punk band Actors), which is both my favourite track and the latest single. I’d say it’s also the most melodic composition on “Model Kollapse”, except maybe for the beautiful and lush album closer “Erosion Through Time”, which also features Delerium’s Mimi Page on guest vocals.

Speaking of melodies, the one thing I miss on this album is actually some really infectious choruses. Leeb is known to lay down some serious hooks with FLA from time to time, but this time he’s going for a more held back style. Maybe he saves those for the next FLA. Lyrically Bill seems to try to get a grip on a bleak future – which isn’t really a departure for him – as well as AI, as the album title suggests, and its influence on our culture and technology.

“Model Collapse” is a really strong album, varied and excellently executed.