Shallou - Souls EP

Shallou
Souls
2018
Spotify

I remember the first time I saw Shallou. I had never heard of him but He was opening for Roosevelt on his US tour. The show started late, as every damn show in LA always fucking does, but once Shallou came on the vibe totally shifted. His evocative vibe and  emotionally charged electronica swept through the room and dancing was certainly had while blissing out to his music. I was hooked from that moment on, lapping up everything from Shallou I could find. Since then He has moved to LA and continued to produce music at a great clip. Well He has finally returned with this EP Souls that seems to pick up where his last record All Becomes Okay left off. The last record was really delicate and was missing some of the edgy elements that really could have set it off. Shallou finds those moments here allowing the music to bloom into these massive structures rather than allowing it to shrink away and hide. It's that boldness, likely from working with a slew of great electronic producers as well as touring with them, that pushes this album forward. On songs like "Vignette" you even get some Tycho vibes yet Shallou still manages to maintain the thing that makes him distinct. It is this super wavey vibe that He captures so well with his music, in the past you wanted to to go further than just being a soundscape and He has done that here. He does fall back into some of the more downtempo habits on "Skin" which has this off tempo percussion that never really seems to come together in the way you would really like it too and creates this disparate sound until it graciously drops out. 

This seven track EP does loose a bit of steam towards the end, something that both of Shallou's EPs have been plagued with. This music feels like it is supposed to hit you quickly, give you the experience than move on. When He hangs around a particular line of music to long it starts to feel dated and old. "You and Me", "Find", "Vignette" and "...Lost" are all standouts really managing to capture Shallou's vibe and pushing the tempo up a bit to keep it from feeling to bogged down. You want that dance vibe to be ever-present rather than just hiding in the background because that lifts the music up and gets everyone far more engaged than they would be otherwise. Having seemingly watched SHallou bloom into a real deal prodcuer in this space has been pretty amazing. A few singles dropping as well as some major collaborations means the world is starting to hear Shallou's name and music, and that is a really really good thing. Watch out He may be coming to a playlist near you very very soon.

8.0 out of 10