Warm and uplifting; Amygdala is one of the most original releases this year, successfully straddling a space where oddball pop meets dance and thoroughly delivering the goods.
Nine years have passed since Stefan Kozella’s debut solo album Kosi Comes Around on Kompakt—an accessibly minimal house/techno release with a quirky cover that stands the test of time today. Amygdala—on Kozella’s own Pampa imprint—has similarly oddball cover art but don’t let this put you off as inside is a superb dance hybrid suffused with humour and soulful psychedelia.
At around 120 minutes Amygdala is quite an opus finding Koze balancing catchy pop hooks against myriad influences with results deceptively simple at times, wonderfully bizarre and unique at others. Pulling references from a career arc spanning hip-hop to minimal techno, Amygdala is often underpinned with the four four chug of the latter yet Koze also weaves a finely tuned experimental pop aesthetic throughout making for an enduring listen. Taking in numerous collaborations adds to the variety with appearances from guests on nine of the thirteen tracks.
Opener “Track ID anyone?” winds a warm bass progression through chugging beats before a surprising Dan Snaith (Caribou) guest vocal pulls things into a completely new direction. Apparat appears next on “Nices Wlkchen” with what sounds like an already excellent Apparat tune given a quality Koze work over. There’s some downright peculiar tracks here—especially “Magical Boy” featuring Matthew Dear with jews harp style twangs, exuberant horns and Dear’s vocals “When I’m climbing lemon trees of feeling.” All this set against a shuffling house backdrop—which shouldn’t work but, with a stroke of genius, really does. “Das Wort” follows and at just five tracks in, is a moment you might feel this a truly original release. Dirk von Lowtzow’s vocals are sung in German across a lounge music arpeggio before a cheeky Marvin Gaye steal appears: “We’re all sensitive people—so much to give.”
Warm and uplifting; Amygdala is one of the most original releases this year, successfully straddling a space where oddball pop meets dance and thoroughly delivering the goods.
Amygdala is available on Pampa. [Release page]
