Chemical Radical – “Light Moves Around You”

Shawn Wilson, working under the project name Chemical Radical, released a debut album. Based in Chicago, Shawn builds a loud, wild sound where industrial pop, crunchwave, noisepool, and squelchcore all smash together into something totally unexpected. Listening to “Light Moves Around You” feels like watching a bright 1990s 3D computer screensaver or an old 2000s media player visualizer jump off the screen. It’s really one of the best releases I’ve listened to this week so far.

The record kicks off with “Smashlight”, a song that grabs your focus right away with its raw power. It sets a heavy, glitchy mood right from the start, which easily makes it one of my two favorites on the whole record. The other favorite track here is “Noisy Sunshine”. It mixes sharp, rough textures with catchy, melodic hooks in a way that feels completely smooth and easy, giving this song near the end of the tracklist a huge boost of fun energy.

All through these ten tracks, Shawn combines gross IDM styles with heavy nuclear chiptune beats. The songs change direction fast, jumping between loud walls of sound and lighter, simple rhythms that make you want to move. “Lungs” delivers a quick, sharp burst of noise, while the longer song “Gleeech” gives the whole project lots of space to stretch out and change over five full minutes. Everything finishes with the strange, hypnotic track “People Take Pictures Of Themselves”, ending a fast, exciting album. People who like Nine Inch Nails, Tobacco, The Knife, or Crystal Castles will find a lot to love on this album.

If you enjoy what you hear on this record, I strongly recommend following Chemical Radical on his social pages so you can stay updated on new releases for the rest of this year.