Django Django - Marble Skies

Rarely does a record’s artwork translate the soundscape hidden inside. Yet Django Django’s Marble Skies, adorned with a cover of pink and blue clouds and an incongruous green splash, is a precise representation of the acidity, the groove, and the turbulence of the album.

The jarring, offset synth grooves of ‘Marble Skies’ and ‘Surface to Air’ introduce the album with sheer energy; lead single ‘Tic Tac Toe’ is a rolling, unsteady romp, with Vincent Neff’s vocals frantically shimmering over the thundering instrumental. The track fizzes to a close, bleeding into ‘Further’, a song tinted with ‘60s rockabilly and a tinge of Doors-esque keyboards. Influences are woven throughout the record in a delightfully unconventional way, house-esque piano notes abound on ‘Sundial’, synth-wave grooves and drops of distorted drums decadently thrown over ‘Beam Me Up’. The crossover from ‘Beam Me Up’ to ‘In Your Beat’ is flawless, the production and mixing of the album evidently slick and noteworthy. Towards the end of the record, the tracks become less pronounced, each one melting into its successor, and ending the album feeling a tad unfinished. Perhaps one more track to tie everything together, or perhaps I want one more song, just because.