Blondes – Warmth

Blondes have their focus firmly on the dancefloor with Warmth, transposing their other-worldly style for the hot-stepping techno fans out there

Album Review by Donald Shields | 16 Aug 2017
Album title: Warmth
Artist: Blondes
Label: R&S Records
Release date: 11 Aug

Releasing their first album on the dance-focused R&S label, New York-based Sam Haar and Zach Steinman – aka Blondes – have stripped back their music, focusing on the percussive framework of the tracks but still with their trademark atmospheric soundscapes in tow. 

The opening track, OP Actual, is a well-crafted intro – simple yet complex at the same time. The juxtaposition of a robotic bass drum and the diverse dreamlike soundscape has a deep thought, blank-stare feeling. Distorted strings and broad synths reverberate with alien clicks which perforate the mist of electronica. You are snapped out of your daze by the off-beat tom-tom drum around halfway through ramping up the energy levels towards the end before fading away.

Clipse is a trippy glockenspiel-laden builder with some ghostly sounds and hi-hats echoing from beyond. Tracks such as Quality of Life, All You, Trust and MRO have the quality of big room techno heard in warehouses and arenas around the world. The latter two stand out in particular; Trust with its catchy hook and dusty hi-hats and MRO with a spacey electronic horror film vibe with a driving deep drumbeat. Both having Blondes' signature building, euphoric feel throughout.

An excellent bassline is at the forefront of a neck-workout track in KDM. A faded vocal sample is set amidst an atmospheric electronic jungle with percolating tones fading in and out as the track builds with euphoria and then fades out with echoed claps and soothing violin synths.

Fans of experimentation with hardware in live shows, and evident in this work, Blondes have mixed all of these elements and delivered a fine album in Warmth.

Listen to: Trust, KDM, MRO

https://soundcloud.com/blondes