Here’s an Idea: New Content

Digitalism’s debut studio album, Idealism, plays like the musical resume of clubs and festivals the duo performs at, giving us a taste of their raw style. The album peaks with enticing songs you can’t help but dance to and plateaus with repetitive tracks. Of Idealism‘s 15 tracks, 5 have been previously released on EPs. The first track, “Magnets” shows us the diversity of Digitalism’s arsenal. The song opens with simple drum beats followed by the addition of electric synth lines in layers until an upbeat club song is created, it is then momentarily broken down to a slower trance tempo before being sped up once more. In “Digitalism in Cairo” the duo shows their knack for sampling by featuring samples from The Cure’s “Fire in Cairo.” A refreshing change from Idealism‘s synthesized sounds “Pogo” features live guitar, drums and singing. There are a couple of songs on the album that seem put there to fill space, like “Moonlight,” with its heavy organ distortion and slow drums that never seem to climax, and the unimpressive “Echoes,” which concludes the album with a mid tempo keyboard, is nothing to write home about.

Through the use of filtered layers of electronic beats, Digitalism creates a real gem here. While hardly the “biggest party ever,” Idealism is a strong debut album and stands out in an ocean of mediocre electronica.