Jayson
jason
ymatto
I will not front, I heard Yukimi Nagamo on the new Gorillaz, enjoyed her smooth vocal tones, and then discovered she was part of a Swedish electronic group. This pretty much adds up to reflexive purchase for me.
Honestly, Machine Dreams is completely like a lost pop album from the 80s. If you can imagine that as a really good thing, chances are you’ll dig this like I did. What is it with the ability of the Swedish to pull off cheerful pop that doesn’t make you feel guilty? The best tracks from this and Royksopp on random play could keep a smile on my face while on my death bed.
The depth of production is crazy — nostalgic synth sounds without sounding thin or dwelling on a gimmick. This is the electro-pop flipside to the kind of updated straight-up electro done by Vector Lovers. It drifts a bit sappy toward the end, but Nagamo’s vocals hold it together mostly. Although I’m a sucker for female vocalists that sing it smooth, no vibrato.
If nothing else, the track Looking Glass is just hell of catchy, like a song that would run over the credits over an 80s comedy and become a hit single. I mean this as an enormous compliment.
– Matt
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