Electro Amp Cynic will sound very familiar to fans of slowcore, sadcore and shoegaze (I know I can make up another genre that starts with "S"... give me a minute...). The gently undulating layers of fleece-soft guitar, the echoingly indecipherable vocals, and the forever-cycling half-speed rhythms will be just like home to anyone who's ever spent any significant late-night time on the couch making friends with Souvlaki and a bong. EAC is the project of Ray Lake, who, with the exception of drums on a couple of songs, apparently plays all the instruments on The 8 Album as well as producing it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with making a purely studio-based record, especially when you're playing atmospheric music that demands multiple guitar and vocal tracks, and this is a great-sounding recording. The reason I wouldn't necessarily want to see this "band" live has little to do with the fact that it would be one guy and maybe some people who didn't have anything to do with writing the songs (all probably standing stock-still and looking at their instruments), and much to do with the songs themselves. The best shoegazer music might be on Xanax, but it still has highs and lows; regardless of its gorgeousness, Electro Amp Cynic tends to stay in the emotional midrange.