Luomo: Vocalcity

Genres are troublesome things. Artists, of course, hate it when anyone reduces their entire oeuvre to a soundbite, and when someone asks you to classify what you listen to, I’m sure you find yourself struggling for an expression that will actually do the music justice. The best music is usually too original to fit snugly into any of the pigeonholes we provide for it and consequently most of us try to avoid engaging ourselves in the sordid practice of "labelling". However, to fully explain why this album is so good and why it has provoked so much debate, amongst certain individuals at least, I’m going to have to talk a little about genres.

Firstly, I’d like you consider "IDM", or Intelligent Dance Music. Whilst not as brainless as "downtempo" or "chillout", the name is inaccurate, outdated and irredeemably geeky. As I said, genres are a menace, but I hope you know what I’m referring to. It’s basically the electronic stuff that’s esoteric, high-minded and definitely not for dancing to. The main complaint levelled against it, often wrongly but frequently rightly, concerns is lack of soul, funk or even personality.

Secondly, I want to draw your attention to house. The term has become impossibly vague due to repeated abuse, but what I mean is the smooth, hypnotic dance music that has the sultry vocals and warm basslines that inspire so many people to shake their asses. The usual objection is that it’s simplistic and functional, capable of working a dancefloor but a little too lowbrow to stand on its own merit. Again, this is often wrong, but in many cases is correct.

As is probably now evident, Vocalcity is a fusion of the two styles, and what this constitutes is a matter of perspective. One the one hand, it injects into IDM a much-needed dose of sexual energy and is infused with a rare degree of emotion. On the other, it adds a fantastic textural and structural complexity to house music and is blessed with an unusual ability to withstand repeated and careful home listening. Of course it would be wrong to suggest that a crossover is absolutely necessary to such achievements, but this album works extremely well. It should be no surprise to learn, therefore, that Luomo is in fact an alias of so-called IDM producer Vladislav Delay. He’s managed to successfully channel his sound into a house format, and narrow-minded purists on either side of the fence will probably be disgusted. If, however, we’re very lucky, one day these people will all meet and they’ll annihilate each other, like so much matter and antimatter, to leave nothing.

Reviewed by Robin Howells
03.19.01