No matter what genre I'm listening to, I always hear some of the same elements repeated over and over again. Any song on FM radio follows the verse/chorus formula, dance music producers love to recycle some synth tunings, and rock bands often write lyrics on only a few subjects.
But every once in a while something comes along that is so vastly different and original; something that breaks the cycle and makes you wonder: "how did someone come up with this stuff"?
Lorant's The History of Love EP is that kind of release for me this summer.
When speaking about electronic music, what sets Lorant apart from other producers is his attention to the smaller things: the drum patterns, the basslines, and the musical bells and whistles that give each track its own flair.
And while some producers compose a lead melody and then create a track around that (sometimes reusing the same background effects as others), Lorant's creations yield that "homemade" feel. Every song on the EP sounds built from scratch, and throughout this 31-minute release, there are few moments where you can predict what's about to come next.
1. Hunter
"Hunter" was the first track I heard off this release before it came out, and like I described earlier, it's an incredible array of melodies, effects, and sound patterns mixed into seven minutes. The song is primarily electro, but has some garage-sounding drums thrown in for added variety.
2. Dracula 2010
As the title implies, "Dracula" has an underlying 'haunting' vibe. The song is carried by a choppy electro synth-melody with a few surprises: most notably some hand-drumming and low-pitched piano notes.
3. Sound X. ft. Emanuel Xavier
This is the mellowest track on The History of Love, and features the voice of Brooklyn poet Emanuel Xavier over relaxing background synth notes and percussion that has the style of a New York City street performance.
Xavier's performance is something different, but gets repetitive near the end of the track.
4. The History of Love
The EP's title track is built around a techy-synth melody that moves along at the pace of some minimal drum and percussion sounds. As the song progresses, the melody becomes longer in some places and shorter in others, with additional effects thrown in to keep the track from becoming too predictable.
One of my favorite effects is the powerful synth hits that shine in the back half of the song (they sound reminiscent of something you'd hear in an 80's action movie soundtrack). But as things start to really pick up, "The History of Love" ends. Although the track is four and a half minutes long, I feel like an extended version would suit this song concept better.
5. Movie ft. O-Red
"Movie" is a breaks track with a rock-band feel, supplemented by the vocals of O-Red. The heavy usage of vocals and non-electronic drums are nice departure from the previous songs on the EP, but the track doesn't seem to build to any climax or endpoint.
6. Jet Black ft. SAMN!
Lorant enlists Royal Advisor Records labelmate SAMN! to help out in the EP's final cut, which is among its best.
SAMN!'s soulful voice adds an interesting dynamic to this electronica-style track, which becomes ridiculously catchy as a xylophone pattern plays a back-and-forth game with a slew of electro-synths and percussion effects.
Final Verdict
The good: Lorant's debut release is nothing short of original, with a wide variety of electronic and percussion sounds that keep you coming back for more. This isn't the kind of EP you do a once-over with: you have to keep listening to it again to uncover everything that's going on in each track.
The bad: The vocal work on this release has a few quirks, and a couple of the tracks left me wanting more, such as "The History of Love" and "Movie".
Rating: 8 out of 10 [Great]
For sale at:
Beatport // Traxsource // JunoDownload // AudioJelly // AmazonMP3
(also available on iTunes)
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