EP Review: Pocket Dimensions

EM/FM is an alter ego of Eli Moore, a multi-talented multi-genre composer, producer, and performer. EM/FM is a persona under which he writes, produces, and mixes experimental synth-based music. His first album as EM/FM, Quixote, was recorded and mixed during the pandemic lockdown. Quixote featured vocal performances, Pocket Dimensions is another matter entirely, the five tracks on the EP being completely instrumental.

EM/FM’s Bandcamp page will tell you that he’s “Beaming in intergalactic synth songs on the radio waves of an 80’s future past”, which nicely sums up what I listened to. The entire EP beautifully tips the cap to the various moods of 1980’s movie and TV soundtracks, even the overall production having a deliciously 80’s vibe. First track out of the gate is Wizarding. Two different arpeggios compliment and play off each other, and then a third line Tinkerbells its way in and descends gently over the top, before being joined by the deep bass and the main melody of this piece. Tinkerbell hovers about in counterpoint to the main melody, accompanied by gentle percussion. The midsection swells into a sense of liftoff, before drifting smoothly down into the main melody, taking the song through to the end. with dashes of extra layers skillfully and subtly applied.

First Flight is pure 80’s action movie, all day. It would be a perfect “montage” soundtrack. I can almost see the plucky hero being put through a rigorous and grueling training routine. It does a grimy little half-time drop for a scant few sweet seconds at the 1 minute mark, before pumping back into “Let’s Get Physical” territory. It was a harbinger of things to come, at the halfway point of the song it drops back into the half-time groove, sounding dark and foreboding, perhaps this is where the montage cuts to the bad guy making his own dastardly preparations. The last third of the song is firmly back to the dashing hero… hope springs eternal. A wave washes over the shore to lap at your toes for the beginning of Into Atlantis, as the languorous feel of this floaty, washy number pulls you down deeper. A sense of a subaquatic peace infuses this song, the melody redolent of cruise ship lounge singers of the 80’s, as if you’re descending to Atlantis with The Love Boat cruising overhead. The mood shifts into a more pensive place at the close of the first third, before returning to its origins. The second third heads into a very Jazzy place briefly, before the intro melody resolves everything into a “You’ve Arrived At Your Destination, Please Depart The Vehicle” feel, the sound of waves drawing it to a conclusion.

What If All Your Dreams Come True? sounds like a gritty 80’s cop movie, our antihero a hard-living loser with a heart of gold. This song sounds like driving pensively down the mean city streets, steaming at the chewing out that the Captain just gave you, sipping sporadically from a hipflask of no-name whiskey. It sounds like the music that plays when a character like this has to make a choice, a lose-either-way kind of choice. Stefanie reminds me so much of the style and feel of Bowie’s magnificent soundtrack to Labyrinth, a huge open-ended atmosphere, fretless bass cutting some shapes like its life depended on it, sparsely echoing drums. The longest track on Pocket Dimensions by far at 5’17”, a slow and meandering piece that suggests pleasant and playful daydreams, probably featuring the namesake of the song. I know I certainly had a mad crush on a lovely Stephanie in the 80’s.

A fun and clever EP, magnificently composed and artfully produced. EM/FM is working towards an album release in 2026, I look forward to hearing what treats he has in store for us next time.