Bambadea

Hard to believe, but it's only been a year since Skläsh, Munich-based LeRoy's debut offering, made a huge splash, when countless trend-savvy media outlets dubbed it an electrified joyride, likened it to the discovery of an all-new orbital speed - or rather: a whole new dimension of time, space, everything. Indeed: Skläsh was (and remains) a globally-minded sonic time machine, fuelled by a refreshingly wayward and slack form of idleness. And yet the world has changed and aged quite drastically over the last year - with lots of new scars, lots of bad news orbiting its overheating spheres: Whereas LeRoy personally went from strength to strength - visiting Vienna Winter Games, utterly amazing UK Festivals - Europeans had to face a shooting spree in Munich, an attempted coup in Turkey, too many Brits brexiting, and a Ba-ta-clan bloodbath on a horrible Friday the 13th: an increasingly steamy and explosive mix of events that led to a massive rightward swing and some hot debates that more often than not felt outright wrong and toxic. Enter Bambadea: An album born out of personal elation and European Weltschmerz. Accordingly, Bambadea sounds both desolate and sun-drenched, gloomy and ecstatic - a para-doxical state that, in this current climate of extremes, actually has a subversive element of indetermination to it: These tunes feel both warm and cool, sexy and somber, sometimes even both high and heavy-hearted. Seen in this oscillating light, 'Advantage of Nothing' with its slow-moving bolero vibes is, well, pretty hardcore: A disturbed, sweetly insane tune with a wicked dash of Brian Wilson-ism: all the happy-happy sounds are merely foregrounding, a feel-good lid to cover the pit. Underneath, there's a steady downbeat push, a breezy marine glaze, as if time was indeed suspen-ded for an instant: A lacuna, the kind of blank space that adds three-dimensional depth to the inter-locked syncopation of these tracks - and that makes Skläsh's tunes almost seem clunky and clumsy in comparison. A more grown-up approach then (de