I Am the Night begins with ‘The New Black’, and at first one is tempted to think that Perturbator is simply repeating his earlier sound when the ominous textures of ‘Savage Streets’ seep underneath a sample of Peter Finch's famous speech from ‘Network’. Yes, he doesn't deviate too much from his specific approach to Moroder's Italo and Vangelis' ambient. Compositions like ‘Retrogenesis’ or the title track are perfect examples of this, as the synths form a vivid soundscape of those ‘hostile dirty neon-soaked streets’ and all the dirty deeds that go on there.
But while Kent isn't afraid to use the clichés of 80s synth soundtracks and indulges in them to the end, he's also willing to shake things up a bit, and that makes his music stronger. On ‘Eclipse’ he introduces less kitschy and more residual ambient textures that play off the retro-future sound like ghosts in a car. And near the end of the album stands out ‘The Price of Failure,’ a melancholy composition that sounds like M83's cosmic soundscapes after a dose or two of Broadcast's radiophonic weirdness.
