isolée – resort island (2xLP)

solée’s fourth album resort island is a record as that’s in turns hazy and thumping, euphoric and melancholy, always delivered in brilliant splashes of color. “coco’s visa” sets the tone, its soft chords lapping against the drums like waves against a dock. Gentle moments like this and the exquisitely bittersweet “let’s dence” offset dreamlike club tracks of the kind only Müller could make. “rumour”, the album’s first single, is all ghostly strings and loping synths, a mellow joy-ride in magic hour light.
pardon my french (second single)
isolée need not apologize for this flirtation with the sound of French touch. “pardon my french” has the key elements that give the best disco and disco-flavored house records their magic: impossibly smooth bass tones connect perfectly plump kick drums, a strutting rhythm, glittering synths, all joining forces to give you the feeling of having a supremely, impossibly good time. On Resort Island, it’s a vacation within a vacation, an artist so skilled at subtle, ambiguous moods going for straight up bliss, just this one time.
canada balsam (third single)
The third single from Resort Island is “Canada Balsam,” a dreamlike club track of the kind only isolée could make. The beat is taut and punchy, a welcome echo of the minimalist flair of his early records. The rest draws from the lush sonic palette he’s perfected since then: vaporous chords, swirling hand percussion, a subtly dramatic earworm melody that almost sounds plucked from a harp. It’s the kind of tune that brings a wash of technicolour onto the dance floor, a cool breeze riding on a perfectly tight groove.