New Music: Emotional Colors by Swede:Art

Album Preview:  Swede:Art - Emotional Colors

Like its wonderfully abstract album cover, wunderkind Swede:Art’s debut release “Emotional Colors” provides a plethora of musical colors.  On this Tokyo Dawn Records release, tracks like the futuristic “Underpurpled” and the hip-hop beat heavy “I am A R.O.B.O.T.” add even more diverse tones to the canvas.

The variety of sounds heard on "Emotional Colors" is its strength.  "Linguisitcs," featuring Stray (Swedish producer/singer/song writer Mattias Axelsson) provides a soulful hip-hop beat and would make a perfect first single off of this record.  Then the next track "You Live Forever" changes the tone from hip-hop to acid jazz/blues featuring some bluesy guitar and trumpet parts over a downtempo beat.

The rhythmic and poetic stylings of Cait Meissner make an appearance on “A Room of Prayers" which is followed by another change of pace to more of a dance track.  "Mosambique" has a thumping bass intro, (reminded me a bit of Goldfrapp’s "Ooh La La La" or "Strict Machine")  and there is some great work on the keys/synth. At times, the various electronic sounds reminded me of what I used to hear in an arcade in the 80’s.  Like the record as a whole, this track features some dramatic tempo changes and is just a very fun instrumental track

The album finishes on a darker, more somber note with the eerie “Samklang.”  Swede:Art invokes some bluesy keyboard on top of a repetitive piano part that reminded me a lot of Clint Mansell’s work on the soundtrack for the film “Requiem for a Dream."

The just 20 year old Swede:Art (a.k.a. Joachim Prügl) from Passau, Germany has a very promising future in Electronica and I eagerly await his next offering. His pseudonym is quite appropriate as he is truly an artist of sounds.  You can check out the debut album on June 23rd.

-Chris