Sylvan Esso
“Concrete Glen”
Psychic Hotline (available via Bandcamp)
Sylvan Esso’s return-to-form album “Ow ∞” is about as infectious as they come.
The whole album bounces along like this. There’s no surprise there.
Sylvan Esso have been ahead of the curve since their 2014 self-titled debut, defined by their approach to sleek electro-pop produced with such a light hand that it’s become a genre unto itself.
Tracks like “Coffee” and “Hey Mami” (the opening salvo to the world on that self-titled debut) are essentially mandatory on the playlist for any new, chic white subway-tiled restaurant opening up in your neighborhood. They’re the best songs you put on a playlist for your crush. They’re built to be prominently placed in an ad promoting a new non-alcoholic cocktail (although, as artists, I’m not saying that’s Sylvan Esso’s primary goal here).
“Concrete Glen” joins the ranks of Sylvan Esso’s best work, one of the rightful singles from their latest album released on the band’s Psychic Hotline label.
“Concrete Glen” is part nursery rhyme paired with a vocal melody that’s so potent at getting stuck in your head that it was likely created in a lab somewhere in North Carolina, where Sylvan Esso hails from.
The song’s musical ancestors are trip-hop slacker anthems of the ’90s like Sneaker Pimps’ “6 Underground” and Bran Van 3000’s “Drinking In L.A.,” which have flowed through the DNA of this duo for a long time. Sylvan Esso offers a lighter, brighter touch, however, on this song.
It’s so bright, in fact, that it was able to pull the cinematic melancholy out of “Svefn-g-englar” by Sigur Rós, which is sampled here.
This will be a big year for Sylvan Esso, who just put their music back on Spotify after admitting that, financially, it didn’t make sense to continue with their year-long boycott. The band is back, more accessible than ever and “Concrete Glen” is their bold declaration that they’re just settling in.
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