Cosmic Ninja has a new EP coming out called Dissident Transmission (Self-Released). Its first track, ‘By Design’ is a wonderful disco-inspired danceable tome. It’s a song ABBA could have done either in the 1970s or now. My favourite lyric is, “…wake up, enough’s enough! kill your masters…” The lyrics of ‘By Design’ and the rest of Dissident Transmission are a strong stand against the corruption of government entities. Dissident Transmission is a wake-up call to those who are angry about how the government is deliberately misleading the citizenry. The lyrics are heavy and in-your-face but the music itself is pop punkish with a new wave feel. 

‘Lies’ sounds like something Public Image Limited would have released. Vocalist Tamsin Cullum, guitarist and vocalist Jonny Angelini, bass and backing vocalist Robin De Wandelear, and drummer Danny Watts are smooth in their execution of combining time signatures, heavy yet grounded down beats, ethereal harmonies, and socially conscious lyrics. ‘Snake Eyes’ is another song that is one part video game music and part eighties British new wave synth-pop. It’s similar to Evanescence’s ‘Bring Me to Life’

https://youtu.be/8BkDkrT7R0A

‘We Got Up’ has a very blue sound, as in it sounds like what the colour blue would sound like. The song evokes rain and coolness. At times the song swirls with purples with flashes of orange. ‘We Got Up’ could be the theme song to a cool Japanese anime. Two minutes and thirty-nine seconds in, it seamlessly switches gears and one can hear eighties style video game sounds. So much of the song reminds one of eighties synth music. 

Dissident Transmission by Cosmic Ninja is a fresh listen the fortieth time just as it was the first time. Relistens never get old. Every song is sonically interesting, the hooks and choruses are sing-along-able, and despite the subject matter of the lyrics, the music makes you feel good. 

Buy the EP here: https://www.cosmicninja.co.uk/

8 / 10 

VICTORIA ANDERSON