The colliding enigmatic sounds on Data Romance’s self-titled debut EP blur the lines between genres, creating a sound totally unique. Ajay Bhattacharyya and Amy Kirkpatrick, both 25, first came together two years ago in their hometown of Victoria on Canada’s Vancouver Island. A quirky community that nurtures a diverse, tight-knit music scene around Lucky Bar; where Ajay first found future partner Amy. Summoned by a friend into lending his drumming skill for her singer-songwriter talents, they immediately clicked. Each discovered artistic talent the other had that would eventually be incorporated into the music. Kirkpatrick was using her training to do lights for the city’s biggest clubs. Bhattacharyya, meanwhile, had come to the city to study sound design for film, mentored by the likes of master Craig Berkey, who has worked on movies like No Country For Old Men, True Grit, and Transformers. Kirkpatrick’s lighting experience definitely influenced Data Romance’s highly visual live show, while Bhattacharyya’s film training can be heard in the album’s most intricate tracks.

Featuring their addictive first single, “The Deep,” the EP’s electronic layers are an introduction to the band’s full spectrum. From the feminine aspect, evoking the mystical eroticism and a pop sound of a Lykki Li or Bat For Lashes, to incorporating a machine-dream feel suggestive of circuit-bending Nine Inch Nails. Out of these paradoxes, the duo forges a deeply personal sound spectacle all its own.

“I want to take the pop format, push boundaries, and fuck it up – but with a voice over it that people can relate to. I love music with real emotion, but then I force myself to see how digital and noisy I can make it. That approach just made me think of the dichotomy between Amy and me,” Bhattacharyya says.

Recorded over a 6 month period, the band spent last year getting more aggressive and cinematic with its sound. Like a mad scientist, Bhattacharyya experimented with classic synths from Moog, Doepfer, and Sequential Electronics, ambitiously layering the fat analog sounds with surprising instruments like tablas, mandolins, and his own voice, which he’d record and process allowing him to add in his own emotion. The result is intoxicating layers of eerie and addicting audio creations. Notable tracks include the EP’s opener and single “The Deep,” which uses epic synthesizers and distortion to contrast the submerged passion in Amy’s voice as she coos hypnotically, in a tale of obsession and regret. “Street Lights” and especially “Bullets” represent Data Romance’s poppier yet still unpredictable side, forging an indelible pop hook out of jagged melancholy. On “Street Lights,” an insistent house beat builds to a chorus of “Here is all I ever want”: it’s sad yet uplifting, a poignant confessional disguised as a dancefloor anthem.