It somehow manages to pull off the delicate balance of sounding light-hearted and refreshingly sincere. Chet Faker, a name which was completely new to me, sounds smooth as silk singing along rock-style while his voice is dripped over gentle synth lines and light whistles. But he would be just as easily dismissed, I expect, by the dubstep purists from Croydon as being just a little too sweet tooth especially on tracks like “Left Alone”. There is no pounding bass thump to be found that would land him in a set next to Deadmau5 and at least from my North American perspective, that’s a welcome change. It walks a fine line between Digitalism and DJ Muggs. The entire album succeeds so well in its refusal to succumb to dance music tropes or to wallow entirely in obscure new trends. And it just keeps getting better from here. The soulful vocal sample crying out “Oh hip shake’n mama / I love you!” on time with the beat makes it impossible not to nod your head. I’m hooked just in time to be thrown into “Holdin On” which keeps the momentum growing. Pitch-warped female vocals cat-call the refrain, “Let me / Love you”. EdIT and his band of Glitch Mob pioneers would be proud to hear their vision so well articulated. Put in context, it all works really well. He recycles the vintage synth stabs and they take on new life holding up the structure of fragmented glitch-hop pacing. You believe for a moment that it has to be ironic or just plain bad but it ends up surprising you. The opening synths on “Sintra” are dated and old-school enough to turn off anyone with a short attention span. It’s no surprise that he’s already being sought after for the remix scene. In spite of the use of constructs other artists have introduced, this record brings it all to the table in an accessible and powerful package. What differentiates it overall is Flume’s uncanny attention to the details of pop music playbook. The bass is not overpowering or even outstanding but simply ample. It seems to ride that same gray area between roots dubstep influence and a simple, more accessible electronic pop. It’s also drenched in the off-sync beats and pitched-warped, haunting vocals that Burial made famous in “Archangel”. At times I’d like to compare it to Skream’s Outside the Box or Deadbeat’s Eight because it’s made up of elements of both. I can’t easily pigeonhole this record by genre. The title track from that EP finds itself appearing on this record as well – and you’ll be glad it did. The young Sydney-based producer sold out two Australian national tours fueled entirely by the hype surrounding his first EP entitled Sleepless and a few remixes and singles smattering various radio shows, competitions and mix sessions. It seems only fitting since that’s exactly how this record is going to break. So I’ll tell you without hesitation that it’s a great record overall and then proceed to explain why I think that is. In honour of the home country and the rise to stardom and the exceptional debut record of Australia’s Flume, I am going to give you this review from the bottom up.
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