John Talabot, Electric Brixton

Few musicians are as adept at straddling the divide between instrumental house and blessed out pop as John Talabot. In a milieu full of producers who can sound interchangeable to all but the most committed of fans, he stands out as one of the few with a fully distinguished aesthetic. This April, he headlines Brixton’s Electric, supported by a bevy of other musicians.
Following 2009’s mesmerizing ‘Sunshine’, Talabot released a handful of singles. It was his debut (and so far only) album fIN (2012), however, that instantly propelled him to the front rank of his genre. Voted the third best album of the year by electronic music bible Resident Advisor, and given the coveted Best New Music award by Pitchfork, fIN sounded both like a summation of much music going on around it and something new and unique. The opening track, ‘Depak Ine’, set the tone, with a mid-paced beat flowing through a watery sound world before evolving into a dream-like swirl of celestial vocals. ‘Destiny’, featuring the voice of Talabot’s fellow Spaniard Pional, showcases the other side of his sound. The same elements – ethereal and balearic, not dissimilar to Caribou’s recent work – underpin a shimmering pop song. The likes of ‘Land Last’ have a neon glow not entirely removed from disco, while the harmony-filled ‘Journeys’ could be a Panda Bear track. This mix of sounds, eclectic while retaining a distinctive atmosphere, is often intoxicating.
Since fIN, Talabot has been honing his craft with mixtapes and DJ sets, along with a radio show on the Spanish equivalent of BBC Radio 1. His 2013 entry in the prestigious DJ-Kicks
series was dubbed “the commercial mix of the year.” He hasn’t, however, produced a follow-up to his debut, or even an EP of original materiel. With this return to London, one can only hope that some new music will be forthcoming.