- A designer, artist and typographer who studied at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Torsten Lindsø Andersen is nothing if not an aesthete. His production work as Round reflects as much. Andersen's debut EP, for John Talabot's Hivern Discs, is effortlessly polished and lovely, with three unassuming house tracks that retain a sense of mystery despite feeling affable.
The EP doesn't do much to distance itself from Talabot, and it doesn't need to. B-side "Float" pushes a forlorn mood into its mid-tempo groove, using quiet piano chords, vocal snippets, sparse drum patterns, and an elastic arp not unlike Talabot's "Depak Ine" or "Missing You." Familiar as it may sound, though, Round makes the style his own—lush synth chords and repurposed saxophones give the track fresh character.
The two brighter cuts, "Glass" and "Lucky Star," keep a pensive Balearic edge, but find Andersen utilizing a sound pallette that recalls late-era Four Tet. Drum samples are snappy and organic, reversed harmonic atmospheres twirl in the background, synths are punchy and melodic, and the crackle of vinyl fills the corners. Surprisingly, none of it sounds derivative—not even the music box sampled in "Glass." Like any good designer, Round knows how to find balance between his influences and his own ideas, and more importantly, he knows how to make them sound like one and the same.
TracklistA1 Glass
B1 Float
B2 Lucky Star