Break Science Paint the Electronic Music Spectrum With New EP, “Mecha Flora”

The Break Science duo, who have shared the stage with Pretty Lights, harnessed the scourge of the pandemic to create "music that was peaceful, visual and overall calming."

For Break Science, electronic music spans across a far-reaching spectrum. And if the duo's latest EP, Mecha Flora, is any indication, their unique sound falls somewhere right in the middle.

“I think it’s important to examine the whole umbrella term of what electronic music is and who it pertains to," Break Science’s Borahm Lee tells EDM.com. "For me, it’s a super encompassing term. It dates back very far, back to the ‘50s and ‘60s where people were making music electronically through instruments that are not electro-mechanical. There’s such a gradient between the spectrum of completely electronic based sound to completely acoustic based sound when it comes to music. Break Science is somewhere in the gradient there."

It's been five years since the Denver-based duo released their sophomore album, Grid Of Souls, but Mecha Flora comes at a time when the world is still picking up the pieces of the pandemic. And what helped to keep society hanging on a thread that whole time? Technology.

As we hid away and live music was put on hold, Break Science's Adam Deitch and Borahm Lee emerged from the shadows with Mecha Flora. The lockdown-era project showcases not only the vitality of live instrument-infused electronic music and its meditative, cathartic effect on listeners, but also the need to work alongside the rise of technology to avoid getting left in the shadows.

“Mecha relates to the mechanical, technical side of our music and the whole material aspect of the world we live in. Flora represents the more natural, nature side of life," Lee explains. "Together they form a beautiful hybrid culmination of technology and electronic music alongside the natural, more organic, and live instrumentation to our music."

"Around us there’s so many manifestations of joining together our technology into our nature," he continues. "The most glaring example of this right now is A.I. Instead of fighting against it we can harness it and use it to further express our voice and propel forward alongside technology. We’re trying to bridge that culture of the digital realm of a DJ with human analog instruments and try to create a lane between the two worlds. We feel like we have something to offer through that.'

While Break Science have circulated throughout the United States over the years— paving the way for a unique approach of trip-hop, funky, live electronic music—the project was put on the back-burner as both Deitch and Lee focused on other creative endeavors. Both have previously shared the stage with Pretty Lights, back when the acclaimed producer played with a live band.

Since then, both Deitch and Lee have found themselves in a variety of projects, inevitably putting Break Science on an unintended hiatus. The extended pause allowed the two to come together through the need of finding a creative outlet in a time of so many uncertainties, balancing their two decades’ worth of collaboration and shared creative passion to naturally form a fresh sound for the project.

“We got together during the height of the pandemic and we were fortunate to make a space in my house to conjure up some goodness,” Lee says. “Adam and I lived seven minutes walking distance away from each other and we were able to come together and make new music as Break Science. The whole nature of the music that we created was a direct response to what was going on in the outside world. While the world was in chaos and everything was pretty unstable, we flipped all of that energy into music that was peaceful, visual and overall calming. We were able to offset all of the negativity that came along during those years through reviving this creative project we had.”

The result comes packaged in a six-track collection that beautifully blends the duo’s signature approach to live instrumental electronic music. The isolated recording sessions featuring Lee’s living room piano and drum set inevitably set the stage for the duo’s most organic approach to their previous studio recordings. 

Mecha Flora is a dreamy amalgam of funk fusion and jamtronica, featuring dancing keys, warping synths and irresistible rhythms. Staying true to their hip-hop origins, “Live Twice” invites more upbeat tones and electro-soul elements backed by Brazilian rapper Niko Is while “Steady Within” lays down laid-back, sultry vocal hooks by Colorado vocalist Lily Fangz. Other tracks like “The Callin’” and the titular “Mecha Flora” teeter along that gradient of electronic music, intersecting Deitch’s live drums with Borahm’s hearty dose of gritty bass and future-funk.

“Niko Is is somebody that we’ve worked with in other projects but was the first to appear on something we’ve released from the studio," Lee says. "Lily Fangz is kind of a Colorado legend and it kind of naturally came together. It could’ve been an all instrumental record but we felt the need and space for lyrics and human voice. We’re really honored to have worked with both of them, they’re both very unique."

Mecha Flora sets Break Science up with a blank canvas to continue shaping and painting the electronic music spectrum. With a newfound creative vision for the project at large, the duo kicked off their revived musical chapter with an EP release party earlier this month at Denver’s phantasmagoric Meow Wolf. Now, they're set to bring their genre-defying sound to Okeechobee Festival and Summer Camp Music Festival in the coming months.

And while fans had to unmistakably wait five years for Mecha Flora to come, Break Science are already envisioning more colorful sonic palettes to paint with.

“We took a mini hiatus and we’re ready to take on more music,” Lee gushes. “We’re already thinking about the next record. We’d love to record something that is a little more experimental, psychedelic, and live playing centered. Living in the same city helps us a lot to constantly be working on new music. We’re excited to get going on the next creative endeavor.”

You can stream Mecha Flora below and listen on streaming platforms here.

View the original article to see embedded media.

Follow Break Science:

Facebook: facebook.com/breakscience
Instagram: instagram.com/breaksciencemusic
Twitter: twitter.com/breakscience
Spotify: bit.ly/3Eb54LL