• Reviews

• All
• Music
• DVDs
• Live
• Cinema
• TV
• Books
• Comic Books
• Video Games

Oct 18, 2017 Web Exclusive By Lily Moayeri

Hans-Peter Lindstrøm is one of the rare few in electronic dance music who has maintained his underground credibility, achieved mainstream recognition, and not compromised his creativity, all the while releasing his music independently. The Norwegian producer is on his fifth solo album, It’s Alright Between Us As It Is. This comes five years after his last full-length, Smalhans, during which time he has steadily been releasing collaborative singles and been very busy with remixes for the likes of Foals, Grizzly Bear, Best Coast, and Mark Ronson. It’s Alright Between Us As It Is is a nice showcase of Lindstrøm’s patented space disco style, this time with the inclusion of vocals.

The nine songs on It’s Alright Between Us As It Is are meant to be experienced as a seamless 50-minute-ish piece of music—a rarity in today’s non-album-based times for this particular style. There is enough movement and mood changes on the album to stop it from becoming repetitive, although the majority of the material is based on not too complicated repetition. It’s Alright Between Us As It Is slowly ramps up from the opening three instrumentals into the excitable “But Isn’t It,” featuring Frida Sundemo. This slows right down seguing into “Versatile Dreams,” which is billed as an interlude, but that is a lively collection of softened beats in itself. Post interlude the songs stretch to 7+ minutes each. The lengthiness is not felt on the soulful and sticky “Shinin” (featuring Grace Hall) or the aptly titled “Drift” or the spooky and mesmerizing Jenny Hval-vocalized “Bungl (Like a Ghost).” But the vibe gets a bit lost by the time album closer “Under Trees” hits.

Even so, you would be aurally, and dare we say it, emotionally rewarded if you do decide to listen to It’s Alright Between Us As It Is in one sitting the way Lindstrøm meant it to be heard. (www.facebook.com/hplindstrom)

Author rating: 6.5/10