FJAAK - Your Time Is Ov3r

The pandemic has affected people in all sorts of different ways, but for FJAAK, life in lockdown led to one key realization: nothing in life is permanent, and what you do have can disappear at any moment, no matter how solid it may appear. That idea is at the core of the Berlin duo’s new EP, Your Time Is Ov3r, a four-track effort that sits somewhere between a rallying cry and a desperate primal scream. It’s not a coincidence that the record’s jagged, electro-flavored title track contains an ominous vocal refrain (“Hypnotize me”), born out of a time when FJAAK were looking for something, anything to make the days go by more quickly.

Still, there’s more to Your Time Is Ov3r than emotional strife. The tracks here have been primed for the dancefloor, and are easily some of FJAAK’s sharpest productions to date. Unbridled EP opener “Identity” fuses elements of ’90s rave techno with modern electro, the whole thing powered by the song’s menacingly crunchy bassline. “Chunks” drops the hammer even harder, its heavy kick and low-end growl rumbling along like a vintage muscle car. And for those seeking something a bit more chaotic, the blaring sirens and frenzied breakbeats of “Falcon Punch” come off like the club equivalent of a nuclear sub attack. Throughout Your Time Is Ov3r, FJAAK tiptoe right on the edge of completely losing control, and while their skilled hands prevent things from ever veering off the road and into a ditch, the music’s inherent sense of instability is undeniably exhilarating.