Best New Tracks - Pitchfork: Kasper Marott: “Drømmen om Ø (Forever Mix ’19)”

• Kasper Marott

“Drømmen om Ø (Forever Mix ’19)”

Fourteen minutes is a long time. Long enough for the sun to rise or set. Long enough to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. And long enough to listen to the inarguably gorgeous “Drømmen om Ø (Forever Mix ’19)” by Danish electronic producer Kasper Marott. To call it a song wouldn’t be wrong, but it’s more like a mini-suite, bliss boiled down into music. That’s a bit of a surprise coming from Marott, whose usual squeaky techno tracks, though perfect for the endorphin rush of Copenhagen’s rave scene, are too fast-paced to feel authentically joyful.

“Drømmen om Ø (Forever Mix ’19)”—the first half of the title translates to “The Dream of the Island”—slows down the pace from his previous warpspeed BPM. That’s a new tack for label Kulor, whose niche has been labeled “fast techno.” “Drømmen om Ø” is still nominally techno, as made clear by its consistent metallic drum pulse and little squeals of acid house. But there’s world music, jammy improv, groovy ambient music, and swinging Latin jazz rhythms in there too, all stewing in the pot. Instead of hitting you over the head with the beat, Marott doles out small nibbles of pleasure, like strokes of wind chimes and funky piano work. He didn’t invent this kind of track that calls out to be played at dusk on the beach, but he improves it by a long shot. “Drømmen om Ø (Forever Mix ’19)” plants a flag for where electronic music is now and where it can go, twisting and shifting its DNA until it emerges as a different organism. It takes some patience to get there alongside it—14 minutes is a long time—but by the time you come out on the other side, you’ll be in a better place.