Everyone Else is a Stranger

Album review

For his latest album, Norwegian electronic music producer Hans-Peter Lindstrøm has put together what seems like a slim volume of work. Everyone Else Is A Stranger only has four tracks, and clocks in at just over 35 minutes long. While this approach is not uncommon for Lindstrøm, the brief track listing does not prepare the listener for the depth and quantity of music to be consumed over the course of the record.

Everyone Else is a powerful journey, meant to evoke the narrative flow and emotional drive of a Lindstrøm live set. Accordingly, it kicks off in an insistent and driving fashion, with the opening moments of "Syreen" demanding attention. However, about two-thirds of the way through, the song opens up into something far more kaleidoscopic and dynamic. Likewise, "Nightswim—an otherwise throbbing nü-disco number—features nearly two minutes of gentle, quiet atmosphere, a bit of ambience that plunges the listener into a delicate, near-silent space that dramatically sets the stage for an epic finale. In lesser hands, a bit of quietude like this would be setting up the cathartic release of a perfectly timed moment at the peak of a club set, but instead of a garish bass drop or lightning-crack klaxon, Lindstrøm deploys thick percussion, precisely played strings, and retro synths to elevate the experience. The 8-minute-long midtempo thump of "The Rind" doesn't lean as hard on the loud-quiet-loud dynamics of "Nightswim," but it's no less polychromatic, with its dense synths and electro touches segueing gracefully into the blissed-out groove of the album-closing title track. "Everyone Else is a Stranger" is cosmically ethereal and undeniably funky, eventually trailing off into a post-Balearic haze of tropical trippiness, making it clear that the album is definitely much less about the individual numbers than the overall experience. © Jason Ferguson/Qobuz