Parlour Magic's Saturn Return is a ten-track pop set built from synthesizers, programmed drums, guitars, bass and treated vocals. Luc Bokor-Smith wrote nearly all of it, with Luca Chesney and Florian Stepper joining him on “Empty Penthouse Suites.” The music draws on electropop, synthpop and synthwave, while the indie-pop writing keeps the songs from turning into pure studio exercise. Vocoder appears across several tracks, and the production gives the electronic parts plenty of room beside the live guitar, bass and percussion.
Bokor-Smith produced the album with Fab Dupont, who also mixed it at Flux Studios in New York. Recording took place there as well as Studio77 in Las Vegas and Funkhaus in Berlin, giving the project a wider footprint than its New York tagging suggests. Chesney contributes vocals on “Paloma,” Anthony Paul Smith appears on “Slow Dance to Everglow,” and Stepper adds bass and guitar to several songs. The result should appeal to anyone after carefully made electronic pop with human voices and played instruments in the frame, rather than a collection of anonymous synth presets. Saturn Return is a paid release, available in FLAC 16/44 alongside several other formats.
