Luomo
Sat March 20
Holocene
1001 SE Morrison
No, we’re not talking Italian fashion mags; this Luomo is the sleek, accessible guise of Finnish electronic composer and crack jazz drummer Vladislav Delay. In 2000, Luomo dropped the wildly acclaimed Vocalcity, which streamlined the dubby, clicks-and-cuts techno elements heard on Chain Reaction and Mille Plateaux releases with house grooves and seductively whispered vocals.
On Luomo’s second full-length, though, The Present Lover, Delay plunges deeper into mainstream house waters–where sickly sweet female vocalists coo trite lyrics over glittery beds of synthesizer, and campy keyboard vamps over protuberant bass lines. Indebted to house music convention, the transformation from Vocalcity to Present Lover is akin to a rumpled math professor ditching his tweedy duds for an Armani suit and diamond-studded cane.
But Luomo doesn’t set out to make sexy mood music. Over email, Delay says, “It’s personal music and helps me analyze my shit and even to say things I can’t say in person to people. I guess it’s a shy and introverted person using whatever language he can to express his feelings. Of course, it touched on sensuality and romance, as well–but it ain’t the driving force.”
Luomo’s track lengths are epic, perhaps for the benefit of the DJ and dancefloor hypnotics; but he’s certainly not trying to be a candy factory for the booty. “My tracks are getting shorter, as I learn to produce and compose and say what I mean,” he explains, “rather than to just fuck around meaninglessly. Also, I try to challenge deejays rather than giving them the easy bread they strive for. But in the end, I’m not into entertaining or easy shit.”
He’s also not into traveling the same played-out trajectory of ideas; Delay’s future includes a new album under his own name, called Demo(n)tracks, released on Huume Recordings, his own label. “I definitely don’t plan to put all my energy in Luomo; I plan to exercise my rights to work on various styles of music I feel necessary and interesting. I’m always on the verge of a musical change and new directions. There will be experimental works, jazz, pop, dub, hiphop, and stuff I’ll produce. Where it’ll go is to be seen.”