Paskal & Urban Absolutes – LUX

The next time you have some friends over for dinner and they’re asking: “Hey, what’s this great sound playing? Let’s go out and party!”, in many places the answer probably is: “That’s the new one by Paskal & Urban Absolutes”. The blank faces of your circle of friends can be encountered best with: “It’s those two guys that were signed by Alex Barck for Sonar Kollektiv about two years ago. They are resident DJs at their label nights by now. And even though one of them, Alexander, lives in Berlin and the other one, Adrian lives in Dusseldorf both make music together. They fly and drive back and forth and that’s how this fabulous album came into being.” Then you may want to rewind the record to it’s beginning and play it from scratch.

The opening track “Take The Fall” indicates nicely which direction the journey with Paskal & Urban Absolutes will take: The sugar sweet, soothing voice of Pete Josef from Bristol (one half of The White Lamp) bids you welcome in a very charming way and the production implies lasciviously that we’re standing on the stairway to clubland. Already with the next track “Here Again” we are in the middle of the eye of the storm. Paul Randolph (the official singer of the Jazzanova live band) purifies a true dancefloor banger, that – and this is the big stunt – also works just as well at home.

For “White Walls” and “Flieg Los” Alexa Voss of Neve Naive wrote some super catchy lyrics and lends her vocals to the two poppiest songs of the whole album. An album which is rich in pop appeal but never concealing its strong affinity for dance music – as in house, techno and even boogie.

Take for instance “Hold Your Head Up” (featuring Kasar), a mysterious hybrid best described imagining the Pet Shop Boys doing deep house together with Hot Chip.

Or “The Way”, where we are delighted by the tonsils of Desney Bailey and an arrangement so eager for the bassline that it evokes nothing but smiling faces and the urge to shake your body. Catchiness, positivism and euphoria (the name of one track by the way) – these are the catchphrases that come to mind when listening to this truly mesmerizing debut by one of the most promising new acts in a scene not to be defined by any genre.

When second-last track, “Melancholia”, kicks in it’s like the end of the best holidays of your life. A perfect Balearic bliss with memories of sitting at the sea, listening to a distant guitar and waving goodbye to a setting golden sun. So long, my friends.

This album will impress you and your future guests with awe for months to come. Rest assured.