Though I’d never describe myself as a massive dance music fan, these two albums both moved me emotionally in their own way.
Sofia Kourtesis
Madres
I feel like I’ve discovered this irresistible debut album from Peruvian producer and DJ Sofia Kourtesis at a wrong time of the year. Ideally, this shimmering record should be blasted in your car in summer as you drive down by the beach on a warm, balmy evening – not in the middle of Melbourne winter. As I found out later, Madres (Mothers in English) has an interesting backstory, and is dedicated to not only to Kourtesis’ mother, but also a neurosurgeon who’s performed a life-saving operation on her.
This is a warm, life-affirming and ecstatic album, with Kourtesis’ charmingly accented, soft vocals gliding over cinematic synths and pulsating beats. Manu Chao, one of my long-time favourites, has a guest appearance on Estación Esperanza, and though their styles aren’t exactly the same Madres feels like it takes the same childlike, joyful delight in music.
ROMY
Mid Air
I really enjoyed the solo release from Oliver Sim, Romy Madley Croft’s bandmate in the xx, and now Romy’s own superb solo debut takes her back to the dance floor of her youth in the 90s and 2000s. It’s not the music style I’ve ever favoured myself and you’d never have found me in a night club, but it becomes very appealing when it’s done through a unique, personal perspective of an artist who is not afraid to be sincere and vulnerable.
Perhaps inevitably, considering Romy’s musical pedigree, it sounds like a more introspective kind of dance floor, where euphoria is intermingled with melancholy; if there’s such a thing as a sad banger then Mid Air is full of them. Romy’s trademark hushed, timid vocals sound reserved even when she’s singing about romantic happiness and enjoying life over elated dance beats.
Lyrically, it’s very much preoccupied with love, intimacy and desire, with the opener Loveher setting the tone: Dance with me shoulder to shoulder / Never in the world / Have two others been closer than us. Unlike the non-specific romantic songs of the xx, here it’s made very clear that Romy dedicates her songs to another woman. I still want that next the xx album some time soon, but in the meantime this is a lovely and heartfelt offering.
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