- The Wisdom Teeth cofounder loosens up on his second album.
- Joe Gladwell's debut album as K-LONE, Cape Cira, conjured a temperate, humid atmosphere out of just a few elements. Its rhythms shifted between house and ambient music, buoyed by gentle percussion, mallets and birdsong. When it was released in spring 2020, it offered listeners escapism without having to step outside of their living room.
On his follow-up LP, Swells, Gladwell makes it clear he doesn't want to be limited by the confines of his previous full-length. His sonic palette has expanded to include vocal samples and the crisp sounds of the Roland CR-78 drum machine. This time, the album embraces dance music rather than just hinting at it. After Cape Cira found him rooted in ambient and minimalistic house, Gladwell now wanders in several different directions, and some paths are more fruitful than others.
Opening track "Saws" quickly stakes its claim, jolting the listener with a harmonized vocal sample and a synth line that cascades like pixelated fireworks near its end. Early single "Love Me A Little" showcases Gladwell's strength as a dance producer with a rubbery bassline and plinking percussion. It's a perky house track primed for a midsummer daytime set.
Gladwell keeps the rest of Swells light and playful. An 8-bit funk groove gives way to a soothing mallet melody in "Oddball." On "Strings", a reversed bass line slithers over a simple but effective drum pattern. Much of the album glimmers with nostalgia. "Gel" is a classic house throwback, with swing and speed that liven up the record's B-side. Closer "Multiply" brings things full circle, wringing emotion from a few plinking keys and expanding chords.
Gladwell's touch is at times too light, especially as the album nears its end. British chart-topper Eliza Rose sings with a smirk on "With U," but the song's underlying production isn't much different from downtempo producers like Bonobo and Machinedrum, who have already acquired their fair share of imitators over the years. "Love Is," a hip-house cut with pitched-down vocals, takes its sound straight from the Galcher Lustwerk sample library. On penultimate track "Volcane," synth arpeggios bubble in interesting shapes but never take form in a way that justifies the song's nearly seven minutes.
If Gladwell’s mission was to make something that stood out on its own from Cape Cira, he succeeded. But Swells still lacks the moments of tension and release that are standard fare in dance music. More tracks could have benefited from the tempo and bassline of "Love Me A Little," the provocation of "Saws" or the gentle contrast in "Oddball" and "Multiply" It’s these elements that show K-LONE is moving outside of his comfort zone and finding his voice. Otherwise, Swells is a warm, breezy record, freeing Gladwell from expectations so he can try his hand at all kinds of electronic music. If anything, the record shows he still has plenty of ground left to explore.
Tracklist01. Saws
02. Love Me A Little
03. Oddball
04. Strings
05. Shimmer
06. With U feat. Eliza Rose
07. Gel
08. Love Is
09. Volcane
10. Multiply