- Since Markus Popp rebooted Oval in 2010 after a nearly decade-long hiatus, his work has been marked by minimalism. Short, sharp sounds form the heart of a typical song, whether it's a sparse, detailed sketch on O and Oh, or a more melodic, vocal-heavy tune on Calidostópia and VOA. Rarely do Popp's sonic elements blur together or blot each other out. It seems that no matter what he's up to, he wants to show you the music's skeleton.
Popp flips that script almost completely. It features multiple layers of sound swirling around punctuating beats and building into dense atmospheres. Some minimalist moments emerge—it would probably be impossible for Popp to make a record without them—but they usually get subsumed in all the musical activity. At times, so much is happening—rattling rhythms, pulsing bass, processed vocals, bubbling accents—that this new direction can become dizzying.
Yet Popp isn't difficult or forbidding. In fact, this may be the most accessible and unashamedly enjoyable Oval album to date. Every track is sweetened with bright, beaming sounds that evoke the neon shine of a joyous acid trip. There's an all-night rave aura here, too—Popp bluntly calls this a "re-imagination of 'club' sound aesthetics"—but Popp feels more fit for sunny, open spaces than dark, sweaty rooms. Since most Oval records have a conceptual side, it's natural to look for meta-commentary in Popp's take on club music, but he sounds earnest and genuinely enthused here. So the sparkling melody in "ku," the thumping beat in "fu" and the auto-tuned singing on "mo" all come off as straight-up dance music, with little irony to be found.
There are familiar sounds throughout Popp, but the album rarely sounds generic. Popp's approach is still so idiosyncratic that none of these songs are unlikely to hit many dance floors. That said, the album title can be taken at face value: as well as being another interesting expression of Popp's musical personality, this really is a kind of pop music, with something extra added on.
Tracklist01. ai
02. fu
03. re
04. ku
05. sa
06. lo
07. id
08. my
09. mo
10. ca
11. ve