Elsewhere

Album review

Portuguese DJ, producer and musician Luis Clara Gomes is better known as Moullinex, who is best known for remixes of top artists like Cut Copy, Röyksopp & Robyn and Sébastien Tellier. After one album of slick neo-disco, 2012's Flora, that featured lots of guest vocalists, his second record, 2015's Elsewhere, features Gomes taking up residence behind the microphone and not giving it up. He also stretches his already pretty good disco meets French house sound into some new avenues, all of which are welcome diversions. First, about the vocals. While Gomes isn't the most expressive singer, he does a fine job here. No complaints whatsoever in that department and it helps to make the album more personal. As for the sound, Gomes's disco bona fides are still without doubt, many of the songs here stack up to anything any of the glitter ball revivalists have been cranking out. Whether fast and shiny ("Take a Chance," or "Can't Stop") or stuck in slow motion psychedelic melancholy ("Widening Circle"), Gomes has the skills to get feet moving and keep them in motion. The tracks that veer off from his established template provide some nice balance and show that he's not just focused on the dancefloor to the detriment of the album experience. The rubbery "Sing My Heart Asleep" has one of Gomes most impassioned vocals over the top of a deep shuffle groove and some fine dueling synths and fuzzed out guitars, the breezy "Things We Do" feels like classic mid-'70s soft rock and has an inescapably hooky chorus, and the wonderful title track is a brilliant disco/power pop hybrid that helps fill the void left by Pacific's absence. Put it all together and Mullinex has delivered a dance record that is filled with floor fillers and headphone jammers, perfect for long summer nights whether spent with friends or alone.
© Tim Sendra /TiVo