Luscius
Eternal Call
KANN
Eternal Call arrives with very little of what might be described as a supporting narrative. The guy who made it, Luscius, is an artist who’s posted very little information about himself online, aside from the fact that his real name is Niklas Schäfer and he previously released an IDM-ish EP called Za Hxper under a different alias, Niclic. The KANN label isn’t much help either, offering little more than an assertion that the new record is “another cool designed take on contemporary techy PC house musik.”
In an era when the “lore” around a release is often more likely to get people talking than the actual music it contains, Eternal Call is perhaps destined to fly below the radar, but this is a classy little record. “Transit” gets things started on a very high note, its elastic, dimly lit groove echoing the confident cool of someone like Pépé Bradock. Both “Eternal Call” and “Xubsurfing” pack a bit more punch—or maybe their drums just ride a bit higher in the mix—but the former’s wooshing textures and echoing vocal refrains have their own seductive charms, while the latter’s gloopy atmosphere adds a welcome hint of weirdness into the proceedings.
On the whole, there’s something very “adult” in the way that Luscius approaches the dancefloor, in the sense that he’d rather cultivate a good loop (and then marinate in it) than chase an endless array of dramatic highs and lows. That lack of bravado may not help him stand out in a crowd, but those lucky enough to wander into his soundworld—and patient enough to hang out there for a while—are sure to find themselves feeling deeply satisfied.