- In recent years, a group of loosely affiliated Swedish producers have steered the conversation about that nation's house music away from a certain EDM trio. Alongside curveballs from artists like Kornél Kovács and Axel Boman on Studio Barnhus, Karlovak, the label run by Art Alfie and Mr. Tophat, has been releasing funk and disco-edged dance floor bombs for several years.
Art Alfie's debut album, Reveries Of, is one of the few occasions on which we've heard him as a solo artist. Tracks such as "City Neon" and "East Village Trip" are more stripped-back than his past releases alongside Mr. Tophat. The same elements—vocal loops, ravey stabs, filter tweaks—are all in play, but the tracks are sparser and stretched out. If the intention is to make the music leaner, it can also seem a bit undernourished.
Reveries Of has a pronounced jazz influence, though it doesn't always hit the mark. "A Lover's Anxiety" has snatches of trumpet and some cymbal rimshots that dally around a rudimentary 4/4 beat, but the track has neither the loose groove nor the dance floor heft a jazzy house track like this needs. "Klubbensborg," another example of that style, is better simply for being a bit faster, while "Ah Hej Då Rå" goes the other way with pleasant downtempo. Other highlights include the dubby bassline and drowsy vocal sample of "A Blues (Dolphin Cruise Edit)" and the reggae-tinted house of "Greg's Island."
Reveries Of is a decent album, but it can feel derivative. If it suffers in comparison with its musical inspirations, it also pales against previous Studio Barnhus albums. Boman's Family Vacation and The Bells, from Kovács, were both rooted in classic house sounds, though neither artist was afraid to mess around with them. Not everything worked, but there was rarely a dull moment. On Reveries Of, everything functions exactly as you'd expect, but inspired moments are in somewhat short supply.
Lista de sequência de músicas01. Intro
02. A Lover's Anxiety
03. Klubbensborg
04. City Neon
05. A Blues (Dolphin Cruise Edit)
06. Greg's Island
07. Esquinas feat. Daniel Rääf
08. East Village Trip
09. Ah Hej Då Rå