It would be very easy to tag LUCKYANDLOVE’s sound merely as EDM and move on. But that would be to miss the whole point of what is actually going on here, because it is certainly a more exciting and adventurous sound than any one generic tag could ever encompass.
As “I Am Human” kicks off Humaura, their third album, by pressing your ear closer to the music, you realize that this is anything but simple dance beats and digital arrangements; there is much more to it than that. It’s a sound built of both live drums and triggered sounds, of hypnotic polyphonic rhythms, of analog synths and programmed loops, not to mention the devastating use of twin vocals. No, this is anything but straightforward dance music.
“Run on Run” plays with space and futuristic sonics to build a soundscape that is as dynamic as it is alien, and I mean that in the very best of ways—unique, cool but unrecognizable, the sound of elsewhere, other, beyond. “Lonely At Night” is a song built on an interesting irony. For all the band’s heady pursuit of technology, it is a celebration, a yearning even, for human contact, something that, for now at least, the digital world is yet to replicate.
“Secret is Out,” the current single, is a brilliant reminder that the world of early synthpop, darkwave, and the music that would eventually evolve into New Romanticism all formed in the same creative crucible and it just depends on which way you hold this shimmering, sophisticated sonic slice up to the light, that determines which you find in it first.
Loren Luck and April Love again create a fantastic sound, one that reminds us that technology is less about making life easy for yourself and more about increasing your options, or at least it should be. The advancement in music-making and studio capabilities doesn’t mean they abandon their analog synths, bass pedals, electronic drum pads, and Kaos boxes; it just means they have even more toys to play with —and you can never have too many toys, can you?
Spotify
Humaura album order
Bandcamp
Apple Music
Juno Music
