As soon as the pizzicato-sounding Trace-inspired synth drops in the intro of the title track of ELSE’s ‘Sequence Pt. 1’ EP, you are instantly thrown back to the late 90’s heroes of Dance AKA Paul Van Dyke and Tony De Vit when he went in a less Hardcore direction. However, the duo doesn’t tie you down to the “rave” world for too long, since ‘Night Thoughts’ takes you to a fusion of Psychedelic and Chillout with the use of a Cow Bell-esque melody in its’ opening and a mid-tempo Dance beat under atmospheric, filtered, Soundtrack-like synths.
And of course, this meditative state is continued on ‘Sequence,’ a trip to the Summer ocean, one that you could easily compare to the blissful music heard at Ibiza’s Café Del Mar, with its’ overlapping, fuzzy melodies, sending you into a trance.
The EP calms down somewhat on ‘Twelve’ with steel pans playing a catchy chord structure which slightly reminds us of Dario G’s 1997 House hit ‘Sunchyme,’ while the EP’s final track ‘Origine’ sends you out into space with some Gary Numan / Kraftwerk vibes via the “vintage keyboard” performed during the main hook.
For their new music video ‘Night Thoughts’, the French Production pair say, “we were fortunate enough to have two young, up and coming French actors, Oussmane Ly and Yassine Stein, to help us out with the video. They embody two young people living the ‘American dream’ in their own way. On the run after a convenience store robbery, they drive towards the horizon. It depicts a journey and friendship across California’s dream-like landscape and offers a contrast between fantasy and reality”.
Overall, it’s fair to state that Else is masterful at experimenting with both current and throwback Electro music production.
‘Sequence Pt. 1’ is out on September 20th 2019
In the meantime, check out Else: Essentials playlist