Wit the discharge of their new collaborative album, the neatest transfer that Emma Louise and Flume made was to “make it dumb.”
That shared mantra shapes DUMB, their beautiful new 10-track challenge, the place the previous’s weak vocals collide with the latter’s unpredictable manufacturing colliding in a manner that one way or the other feels each fragile and unshakable. It’s Flume’s first long-form challenge for the reason that Might 2025 launch of his collaborative EP with JPEGMAFIA, We Stay In A Society, and a stepping stone to his fourth studio album.
The pair’s chemistry, first revealed on “Hole” from Flume’s 2022 album Palaces, reaches new heights on DUMB. It doesn’t search to clean the cracks between the 2 artists’ worlds, however as an alternative highlight them.
Flume’s shapeshifting manufacturing and Louise’s deeply private songwriting typically lock horns, however that friction is what makes it stunning.
“Rising up undiagnosed neurodivergent, I typically felt dumb—struggling in school, forgetting issues, silencing myself to slot in,” Louise stated in a press release. “Within the studio, every time we bought caught, Harley and I’d giggle and say ‘make it dumb’ to cease overthinking. It labored each time. At first, naming the album DUMB felt irreverent and releasing, however later I noticed how deeply it related to my very own concern of being seen as silly and unworthy. This album is me reclaiming that phrase, letting go of disgrace, and promising myself I’ll by no means abandon my voice once more.”
That reclamation is palpable all through the album, which opens with “The entire Worlds,” a observe that instantly breaks gravity. Fluttery synths shimmer and fracture like mild bouncing off glass, weightless and extraterrestrial.
Water imagery programs all through DUMB, nowhere clearer than on “Monsoon,” the place Louise’s crystalline supply turns into slowly engulfed by glitchy layers till she’s practically swept away within the storm. Later, on “Really feel Ur Love,” her voice pours over like a waterfall, beginning gradual and regular earlier than spilling right into a rush of sharp percussive parts.
Mild itself turns into a motif on “Shine, Glow, Glisten,” which sparkles between shiny pop and jagged entice. Its glistening floor shatters into off-kilter rhythms, whereas Louise’s hushed vocals glide by distorted beats that twist all through. The impact is seductive and magnetic, but additionally unnerving.
Tenderness surfaces too. “Straightforward Goodbye,” the challenge’s lead single, locations Louise’s delicate vocals towards Flume’s warped backdrop, turning imperfection into intimacy as she repeats, “Am I a simple goodbye?” Elsewhere, “Keep” leans into vulnerability, as Louise’s haunting vocals meet alien-like synths in one of many album’s rawest performances. “If I’m being trustworthy, I’m not okay. I broke myself to suit the mould you made,” she admits, a lyric that cuts by the atmospheric manufacturing with ache.
“Whenver You Need” takes a lighter strategy, starting with an ethereal melody earlier than Flume laces by it with crashing glitches. “Model New” pivots once more, opening with trickling sounds and snaps earlier than lifting into an upbeat swing that collapses underneath the burden of distortion, solely to floor once more on the very finish in a mild chorus: “Maintain me like I’m model new.” The nearer, “Truce,” pulls all of this aside. Mesmeric piano strikes and futuristic synths swirl till Louise’s voice is almost overwhelmed, the album fluttering to its fractured finish.
You possibly can take heed to DUMB beneath and discover the brand new album on streaming platforms right here.
Comply with Flume:
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Comply with Emma Louise:
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