PICE – Game Over Review

What does PICE sound like?

Clean cut, bright and sumptuous fakebit chip music.

The review of ‘Game Over’ by PICE

Swedish fakebit artist PICE has been making music on and off for over 14 years for the fakebit and chiptune community. ‘Game Over’ is their finale, dramatic as that may sound. Feeling like inspiration has dried up following their chillbop 2023 album, ‘Game Over’ is a way to go out in a blaze of celebratory glory.

What makes PICE’s music stand out is their attention to mood. PICE manages to balance an uplifting breeze alongside a twinge of bittersweetness delicately. The album tells a story through its titles, too. Opening the uptempo fakebit club beats of ‘Start Game’, the world is bright and beautiful. The electronics are supple and vibrant. PICE then adds curiosity and a sense of unveiling with ‘Walking To The Arcade’. It’s a slower track with a nostalgic tone to it, with the piano riffs evoking a minor loss of something they felt so excited for. ‘UNDERBAR’ is a track of two halves. Some sections are serene and glossy, whilst other elements have a chonky drum loop and beef to them. Playfully wistful, it sounds perfect for an indie RPG.

The rhythmic pulse and low bell squidges of ‘CLUB PIXEL’ make this short but impactful track stand out. The Nordic influence of a good electronic pop riff carries this piece well. ‘SID’ goes back to the phat sizzler sines of the late 80s and early 90s. Merging clean 8-bit-styled synths with modern-day drum beats and hybrid rubber basslines evokes a retro-rose-tinted-remaster sound that I adore. Both of these tracks are mid-tempo and have a slight sludge to them. Their lethargy makes ‘TOLBTLBF’ all the more explosive. The title stands for That One Level Before The Last Boss Fight and the song carries a rallying frenzy throughout. After brief pauses, the track shifts up the beats-per-minute scale (or at least feels to) as it whirls up a sizzle-synth machine and techno beat for an anthemic chorus. It’s delightful and an album highlight. It should be noted that there is a vocal version of SID as a bonus track, and it works exceptionally well.

Having hit that high, PICE moves us into a hip-hop chillout zone with ‘Water’. Between bitcrunched vocal samples, heavy stomp beats, and airy synths, the track straddles chill and vaporwave. It just has a thumping drum machine slapping out house beats at a slow rate. Seemingly mirroring their own music career, PICE then brings a bright house piano onboard for the cute and clumsy ‘Reminisce’. A soft throbbing bass undercurrent hides in the background for most of the track as thick synth pads from Windows 98 fill your speakers. At the end, a full chipset of electronic synths join forces to bring us back for one final ride. After a panoramic interlude with ‘Last Life’, we get to experience all the joy with ‘Game Over’. It is a delightful tour de force of all the music and subgenres of PICE’s career laid out in their simple, direct melodic style.

PICE always stuck with simple, clean, direct melodies. It was never about the complexity, but instead about the wax and wane of music. Each track here revels in its constant construction, deconstruction, and reconstruction, and that’s how I remember PICE’s music best. Anyone who enjoys fakebit or chiptune electronic music will likely enjoy the direct approach of the melody. There’s something early ’90s about it, when house, trance, and techno focused on just a few key elements to deliver a banging track.

Whilst I’d never say never, if this is farewell, then thank you for the music, PICE. It’s been a pleasure.

Recommended track: Game Over

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