Ex:Re's 'Save As' Is a Devastating Masterpiece of Patience
The Sonic Breakdown
The Production & Mix
The Low-End: Fabian Prynn — who produced the 2018 Ex:Re debut and drums here too — keeps the floor moving under Tonra rather than beside her. Trev Elkin at God Is In The TV, scoring it a 9, describes “Sleep” as “bass pulling through deep changes while faint strings brush its edges,” and Eva Grant at Livesphere hears “clever rhythms and unconventional drumming patterns” giving that song its momentum. Ben Reed plays bass; Hinako Omori handles synthesisers; Jethro Fox adds electric guitar.
The Spatial Dynamics: The trick of the record is how much of the original demo survives inside the new build. Elkin: “Original guitar demos survive within lush new arrangements of loops and shifting rhythms.” The mix moves Tonra’s voice deliberately — “leaving Tonra’s clear vocal unusually exposed” on the title track, where “strings lean in and slide down,” then burying her on “Frozen Aisle,” where her “reverb-glazed voice grows mistier and more detached.”
Standout Performance
Josephine Stephenson’s cello is the record’s second voice, threading the arrangements without ever tipping into prettiness. But Elkin’s pick for the single best moment is a songwriting one — on “Am I Even Real?”, he writes, “the sickly insistence of the chorus makes self-doubt horribly catchy.”
Why It’s Certified
⚡ Michael La Torre at Alt Revue gave it a flat 10 out of 10 annotated “no notes!”, calling it “absolutely killer” and saying “it had me hooked, line, and sinker from the jump.”
🌈 Grant at Livesphere: “a poignant and beautifully crafted masterpiece,” and “one of Tonra’s most emotionally resonant records to date.”
🌈 Elkin on the eight-year wait: the return “feels justified by how closely Tonra listens to what has changed.”