Smalhands by Lindstrøm
Lindstrøm’s latest full length album and his second release within the same year, coming after the surprisingly adventurous, somewhat experimental work, that was Six Cups of Rebel, a rather untraditional take on disco music, is a return to the Norwegian producer’s basic stylistics. Good news, since Lindstrøm’s previous offering wasn’t exactly a top notch quality album. Smalhands offers a little more than thirty minutes of rather straight forward space disco, built around floor on the floor drum patterns, funky bass lines and glossy synth arpeggios. In the higher frequency range there’s a big amount of sampled percussion fills and various high-pitched sounds, coming from all kinds of different sources, too. The record is characterized by a remarkably wide dynamic range and various tempos, while being rather monotonous, as far as the rhythms are concerned. One of the album’s outstanding moments is the third track, Ęg-gęd-ōsis, where a carefully composed progression revolves around a catchy and playful bass line, and ever reemerging percussion overdubs. The track is followed by Smalhands’ sole highlight, Vōs-sākō-rv, another track built around irresistible synth melodies and fast paced drum patterns. Good thing about the album is, that other than glitzy, sugary synths and synthetic bass tones, there’s also various untraditional percussion, which is given quite enough space to breathe and develop in rather unpredictable directions. Lindstrøm’s take on disco music is certainly an open-hearted, down to earth and quite honest one, devoid of any pretension. The compositions, found on his newest release are all pretty accessible and highly enjoyable. Lindstrøm, a prominent figure in the disco revival, that has been going on for several years now, is not necessarily along the lines of the more intriguing and challenging musicians in the contemporary dance music scene, but nevertheless proves himself once again as a truly gifted producer, whose music, although not mind bending, is exceptionally enjoyable, for sure.
