(Indie / Dream Pop / Cabaret) Lonely Drifter Karen - Poles - 2012, MP3, 320 kbps

Lonely Drifter Karen are back with a resolutely pop album, a new song cycle which shatters many preconceived notions of their music. The colours have morphed: gone is the largely acoustic, piano-led instrumentation. This time, analog electronics, Asiatic arpeggios, sliding bass-synths, sinuous guitar riffs and funky grooves abound, while Tanja Frinta’s voice is wilder, more vibrant, and seems to have acquired unsuspected new dimensions.With these new shades and brushes, the band have painted an alternate version of their own, unmistakable world: dreamy, poetic, and slightly surreal, overflowing with those lush arrangements and irresistibly seductive melodies which have become the band’s trademark.The core duet of the group — Austrian singer/guitarist Tanja Frinta & Spanish keyboardist/arranger Marc Melià Sobrevias — are now firmly relocated in Brussels, Belgium. Following the amicable departure of their long-time drummer, they have enlisted the help of young French guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Clément Marion, and of several percussionists (both of the human and the robotic kind) to launch into sound explorations and create these songs which take the listener on an enticing journey through sound & space.