Luomo - The Present Lover

My friend—the silly boy that he is—advised me once upon a time that he wasn’t too keen on electronic music. Upon questioning him as to why he wasn't and if he had ever given it a listen, he merely replied, “No. I think it’s stupid music.” Apparently, my friend, you have not experienced the soothing sounds of Luomo. Vladislav Delay (who performs house music under one of his many pseudonyms, Luomo) is back for seconds with his sophomore album The Present Lover. The album comes to us after an almost two year absence following the highly contagious Vocalcity, a creation that fulfilled my lonely house music needs. The Present Lover is a beautifully nourishing blend of sexy, alluring, and lovely-as-angels vocals provided by Johanna Niemela and Watkinson, whom you may remember from Luomo’s freshmen album, and deeply intense rhythm and blues beats and grooves. There is no doubt: This is smart music. The tracks flow song-to-song like dreams in stereo, and this is indisputably a significant album to own if you are a lover of deep house music. It has been my preference of music when having an intimate get-together or if my conscience needs a rest. The Present Lover gives your soul music to dance to. The more I immersed myself into the notes, it enticed me further enter into Delay’s strange and mesmerizing world where the complete was as beautiful as the music. With perfect arrangement of infectiously danceable and flawless pop beats, it amazed me that some space-age robot didn’t create The Present Lover. Or did it? I experienced a walk in the future. Among my absolute favorites were “Cold Lately,” where I found myself lying on my couch literally breathing and tasting the sounds like honey-filled air. A remixed “Tessio” also graces the album. For the duration of the title track, I, in fact, caught my little body dancing up a storm while doing my laundry. Any compilation that can conquer my mind from doing two-week-old laundry has to be incredibly laudable. For current fans of Vladislav Delay, look to him exploring the ever-present world of hip-hop in an unnamed project. Delay also spins techno under the designation, “Uusitelo.” [www.luomomusic.com]