In Those Shoes is latest work from musician Mark Dowdell, who began releasing self-produced EPs under the name Ark Arsenal last summer. In the course of a little over a year, he has shown noticeable growth. With more of a rock background, his first EP found a territory somewhere in the prog-rock/post-rock area. It showed promise, but wasn’t especially interesting or unique. Fast forward sixteen months, and the leap forward in quality is noteworthy. Ark Arsenal is now exploring areas of dub, electronic, and hip hop, mixed in with his post-rock background. His arrangements are more complex and you can sense his confidence has grown as well.

The EP opens with “Drum Thief,” a gentle dub number that builds on a subtle bass line and echoing drums to allow for the melody to be explored on keyboard, all while layers of sound build underneath. “Banana Republican” shows a flirtation with a darker tone in music, and by the time we get to the third track, “Synthicus Maximus,” we experience an interesting mix of dissonance both with the beat and with the melody. Ultimately, Ark Arsenal is a fan of melodies that are gentle and soothing, but as the EP unfolds we see him play more with tension and shifts in tone. We also see a wider range of synthesizer sounds coming into the fold. The use of a sample of a live audience at the beginning of “Electronicals” helps bring the energy level up, but once the song shifts into a more laid back beat, the effect is lost a little.

There is plenty to like about In Those Shoes, and the EP is quite a long ways away from the first Ark Arsenal release, but there is still much more that can be accomplished. Hopefully this will come in time, because I think that a lot of the ground work has already been done. I think further experimentation and building upon what has been done could lead to some really good music.