Prins Thomas and Lindstrom – 7th Level Music

The third album from Norwegian electro-music duo Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas, appropriately titled III, is a beautiful album of lush sonic landscapes and uplifting grooves just in time (here in the northern hemisphere, at least) for dark and cold weather to come…and to give you a break from any self-isolation doldrums you might be having.

There’s a sense of fun right out of the gate by naming the album’s opening track “Grand Finale.” It leaps out of your speakers with bright, 1980s synths like UFO lights through dark clouds. “Martin 5000” was the lead track from III and I like the way it builds, seemingly in the background of everything around you, until it strolls alongside you like a super cool panther along a jungle path.

The bass line in “Small Stream” seems to have a bit of an Afrobeat sound to it, and the jazz piano mixes quite well throughout it. “Oranges” is spacey acid-lounge suitable for chillin’ or making out. “Harmonia” might be the lushest track on the album. It’s like something you’d hear in the coffee house on the mothership from close Encounters of the Third Kind, and the DJ there was Mowgli from The Jungle Book. “Birdstrik” closes the record with a thudding, sexy heartbeat rhythm and even sexier synth-bass to send us off with a relaxed afterglow.

III is one of those cool mood-altering electronic albums that is suitable for so many places, times, and situations that you’ll find yourself floating back to it again and again.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe before you go.]

[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Lindstrøm and Prins Thomas announce their new album, III, out November 20th on Smalltown Supersound, and share its lead single, “Martin 5000.” III is their first outing together in eleven years, since 2009’s II, and as ever, Lindstrøm and Prins Thomas have crafted their own unique sonic world. This is expansive, luscious electronic music rich with texture and intricacy, patiently revealing every eccentricity while constantly pulling the listener in. Getting lost never sounded so good.

Since the release of II, Lindstrøm and Prins Thomas have remained more than busy with their respective solo careers, but work on III was taking place behind the scenes the whole time—slow and steady by sending files back and forth. “There’s a different process with every album,” Thomas explains. “With the first two albums, we had a door between separate rooms in the studio, so I could open my door and play him something. We also toured together a lot after the first album, and after that experience we realized that we work better together at a distance. We’re doing our best work by not worrying too much about what the other one of us is doing.“

Eventually, the bulk of III came together over the last year, as Lindstrøm and Prins Thomas teamed up to craft a lush and lovely work that recalls the hazy atmospherics of Air, the loose-fit jazz of Lonnie Liston Smith, and the genre-resistant electronic music that both artists have made their name on over the course of their impressive careers. “Our partnership is very democratic—we never turn down each other’s ideas. And if it goes wrong, we blame it on the other guy,” Thomas says with a laugh. “The tracks that Lindstrøm sent me this time were almost like standard house tracks. I already had an idea of what I wanted to do, so I forced those tracks into new shoes and dresses.”

III is an unexpectedly subtle album, but don’t mistake that descriptor for suggesting that this music is subdued. Listening to it is like taking a microscope to a petri dish—the further you zoom in, the more your naked eyes (or, in III‘s case, ears) can witness an environment teeming with life and kinetic energy. Above all else, III is a testament to the adventurousness of Lindstrøm and Prins Thomas when it comes to soundcraft. Both artists have established separate careers on bodies of work that feature infinite twists and turns, thrilling their audiences with the suggestion of where they’ve been and where they’re about to go. Together, they’ve crafted what might be their most beguiling and inviting work yet, a jeweled box of electronic music ornately crafted but never losing the sense of playfulness that so many have come to love from them.
Stream “Martin 5000”

Pre-order III

III Tracklist
1. Grand Finale
2. Martin 5000
3. Small Stream
4. Oranges
5. Harmonia
6. Birdstrik

Keep your mind open.

[Why not subscribe while you’re here?]

[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Tag: Prins Thomas and Lindstrom

Review: Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas – III

Lindstrøm and Prins Thomas announce “III.”