Album review overview: Icona Pop, Jungle and more

Dozens of new albums arrive at Maxazine’s editorial staff every week. There are way too many to listen to them all, let alone review them. It ensures that too many albums are left behind. And that’s a shame. That is why today we post an overview of albums that arrive at the editors in short reviews.

Peter Parcek – Most of the Time

Good blues is blues that is credible. This certainly applies to guitarists. There are very few guitarists who really know how to get credible blues out of their instrument. Peter Parcek definitely belongs to the guitarists who can make their guitar moan, groan, whisper, but when necessary, can also make it scream. Thus Parcek’s new album begins with a raw blues in “Twistified”, but two tracks later we are sitting in silence listening to the slide in the highly successful Dylan cover “Most of the Time”. Yet Parcek is at his best in the up tempo material, largely written by himself. Especially when his guitar is supported by Hammond and a horn section, as in “Just Play Rhythm, Baby”. Then it churns and rolls. It feeds the insatiable desire for more. You get that in another excellent rendition of John Hiatt’s “Mississippi Phone Booth”. Or in the dragging swamp of “Poor Boy”, the irresistible groove in “Cold in Hand” and the thick, muddy wail in Bill Withers’ “Grandma’s Hands”. Then you hear why Parcek describes his own style as ‘soul guitar’. Although the Rhodes solo by Tom West in that last song should not go unmentioned. (Jeroen Mulder) (8/10) (Lightnin’ Records)

Sojourner – Gateways

“Gateways” is the fourth studio album by the atmospheric black metal band Sojourner. Sojourner consists of an international group with members spread across Sweden, New Zealand and Italy. Since the release of the last album “Premonitions”, there have been some changes in the band line-up. Original bassist Mike Wilson has returned to the old nest, for example, and the talented South African singer Heike Langhans, known from Draconian and Remina, among others, makes her official album debut. The lyrics breathe an atmosphere of deep melancholic nature, carrying memories, grief and emotional thresholds. The music created perfectly complements the lyrics. Aggressive blastbeats alternate with calm, dreamy soundscapes. Emilio Crespo’s intense growls constantly contrast with Heike Langhans’ angelic voice. The piano melodies, synthesisers and violins also contribute to the melancholic atmosphere. An excellent album that every lover of atmospheric black metal and gothic metal will enjoy. I also recommend that fans of Draconian, Heike Langhans’ former band, give this album a listen. (Ad Keepers) (8/10) (Avantgarde Music)

The Court at Versailles – Acoustic Electronica

They will not become rich from this project: The Court at Versailles (CAV for short) attracts fewer than fifty listeners per month on Spotify. And that in the knowledge that one of the two driving forces behind CAV is Eric Palmquist. The Los Angeles producer may count Billie Eilish, Tate McRae and Bad Suns among his clients. Together with pianist Joel Pierson, he reworked dance tracks for this album. “Acoustic Electronica” therefore features tracks by major dance acts such as Underworld, Squarepusher and Skrillex, among others. Palmquist and Pierson stripped the tracks down to their core and translated the synths, samples and beats into an arrangement for a jazz trio: alongside Pierson on piano, we hear Sam Minaie on double bass and drummer John Hadfield. And then it turns out that dance and jazz lie surprisingly close to each other. The structure of the original tracks remains intact, even with the minimal line-up. Underworld’s “Rez/Cowgirl” is a good example: the track remains one hundred per cent recognisable and is just as propulsive as the original. Or “Light Through the Veins” by John Hopkins (although most people will recognise this as the intro to Coldplay’s “Life in Technicolor”), which takes on a completely different character on piano, almost more mysterious. And impressively, despite its length of more than nine minutes, this track does not become boring for a second thanks to Palmquist’s sublime production work. (Jeroen Mulder) (8/10) (Handcrafted Records)

Icona Pop – Ritual

Icona Pop returns with “Ritual”, the fourth album by the Swedish duo Aino Jawo and Caroline Hjelt. Where the act once broke through with the carefree energy of “I Love It”, the pair chooses a more introspective approach this time. The album revolves around change, loss and the dance floor as a place to heal, a theme that opener “Hurt” immediately establishes with the line that despite pain there is still a heart beating. The title track “Ritual”, featuring Daya, forms the emotional centre and repeats the idea that rituals are necessary to survive. Songs such as “Dance To This” and “Butterfly Feelings” hark back to the directness of their early work, with sharp lyrics and pulsating beats. Yet the album lacks its own sound at several points. Tracks such as “Cooler” and “Mad Love” lean heavily on production techniques that have been commonplace within the dance-pop scene for several years, making Icona Pop sometimes sound surprisingly ordinary for a duo with such a recognisable history. “Yellow Top” at least brings some lightness again with a nod to summer flirtations. The result is a neatly produced but uneven album. (William Brown) (7/10) (Ultra Records)

Jungle – Sunshine

Jungle presents “Sunshine”, a warm and sunny record, the fifth album by the British trio J Lloyd, Tom McFarland and Lydia Kitto. Following the success of “Volcano” and the breakthrough of “Back On 74”, the band deliberately chooses not to pursue further experimentation, but instead to deepen the warmth, groove and accessibility that have characterised their sound for years. Singles such as “Carry On” and “The Wave” show influences from Brazilian music of the sixties and seventies, while “Someday, Somewhere” holds on to the feeling that something better is always waiting. Opener “Come Back To Me” immediately sets the tone with a retro intro, after which the familiar Jungle groove unfolds in shimmering vocals and rich instrumentation. “Move Like You Do” rests on an elastic bassline that once again underlines the band’s dancing qualities. The album can hardly be called surprising, but precisely that familiarity is its strength. Within just over half an hour, Jungle manages to create a summery, relaxed atmosphere without sounding sloppy. For eleven tracks, the production remains tight and the energy constantly present. (Elodie Renard) (8/10) (Caiola Records)