Eluard - Dancers Are Thin And Pretty

Milano-based producer Eluard graces Slow Motion Records once again with his debut album ‘Dirty Hall’. A release filled with his distinctively nostalgic tone, blending West Coast synth funk and Italo Disco with appropriate, seamless grit.  ‘Dirty Hall’ opens with ‘Die Erste Musik’,  a chiming track with a wide, captivating vocal sampler riff that delicately dances off fizzing percussion. Creamy, glistening chords sit beautifully within this arrangement effortlessly complementing the bassline. This approach is taken a step further in the following ‘Carlo E Daria’, with an instantly attention-grabbing swirling synth motif.   ‘Dirty Hall’ shows the breadth of Eluard's innate talent for harnessing the best out of the analogue machine, creating a rich sonic palette that never fails to warm the ears. The thundering lows of ‘Comic Bad’ are met with a mind-bending augmented synth line and a beautifully enigmatic vocal riff.  Eluard’s sound design throughout this LP masterfully pushes the retro into the present realm, retaining the characterful intrigue of the instruments recorded. Intelligently placed harmonies in ‘Dancers Are Thin And Pretty’ and ‘Funny Jasmine’ help to raise the instrumental sequences, allowing the listener to be transported to a more reflective, existential space.  The slick flare of elegant floor filler ‘Phonemes’ solidifies Eluard as a visionary within the Italian Dance Wave Movement, layering distinguished instrumentals with perfectly placed melodics. ‘Dirty Hall’ eloquently concludes with the sophisticated sleaze of ‘In The Next Room’. A masterful nod to the golden era of the vocoder with a stomping, percussive groove and a cleansing chordal sequence. ‘Dirty Hall’ is an LP charged with a mind-bending evocation instilling Eluard as a forward-thinking force within the sonic sphere.  Radondo, Berlin 2023