The Knife’s Olof Dreijer makes electronic music that sounds as if it is not quite of the here and now. Not only has the Swedish producer displayed an enduring interest in the Trinidadian steel drum—first as imitation, later as homage—but his melodies often sound as though he has opened up a wormhole to a medieval market square, summoning visions of pennants flapping around the maypole. Between 2008 and 2010, he honed that sensibility in a series of four remarkable EPs released under his solo alias Oni Ayhun; now he places it front and center in “Rosa Rugosa,” his first new solo music in nearly a decade.
To anyone halfway paying attention, it’s immediately recognizable as Dreijer’s work. The pitch-bent synth lead is painted in bright, bold colors; it twirls playfully, channeling the spirit of European folk dances and wooden flutes. The loping beat, meanwhile, takes inspiration from Angolan kuduro—evidence of his interest in African music and post-colonial history. The track doesn’t really sound like anything else on Hessle Audio, the label run by Pearson Sound, Ben UFO, and Pangaea, but it also makes a certain kind of intuitive sense there. For years, Hessle Audio has been introducing unexpected new twists to UK dance music—first via dubstep, then a host of innovative bass/techno fusions, and most recently in a crop of sunny, spirited anthems from Shanti Celeste, Anz, and Pangaea. “Rosa Rugosa” doesn’t sound exactly like those, but it’s clearly cut from the same giddy cloth: an unconventional summer banger capable of carpeting the dancefloor in dazzled smiles.
