We promised introductions to 5 new Danish bands and artists this weekend (check out our 'Askee' and Lunar' features' already), and although 'School of X' isn't completely new, we've been meaning to write something about his music for a few months now, today seems like the perfect day given he's just released his debut EP 'Faded. Dream.'
Behind 'School of X' is a drummer, Rasmus Littauer, who has worked with artists such as MØ and others, and earlier this year he released a really good track entitled 'Words', which sat on our new listening playlist for weeks. In addition to that his appearances at festivals such as Roskilde received plenty of attention, and he was covered by some pretty fine Music Websites and blogs at the time, so much so we felt he probably didn't need the coverage of an average one like us....
But for once we're being all up to date and relevant, as his debut EP 'Faded. Dream.' was released this morning, and as expected it is a really polished and clever EP which sits somewhere in the the world of synth pop, but not in a totally conventional way. 'Pool of Love' demonstrates the style perfectly, Rasmus Littauer is not afraid to expose himself with emotional and personal vocals, but it's against the backdrop of some big production - although it is always restrained, even in the latter stages of this opening track he resists the temptation to blast us with a big synth climax. 'Get Higher 'is also released as a single today, and it has a more obvious melodic hook, but again the 'School of X' approach is that every sound needs to have a purpose, preferring to give emphasis to the vocals and the lyrics.
'Forever' is a good reminder that Littauer is a drummer at heart, as the precision in the rhythms, and sounds within those rhythms are a real highlight of the track, and then we're offered the tracks we've heard previously, the excellent 'Last Vegas', which has real delicacy in the vocals, and my personal favourite, 'Words', which is just such a well written track with some lovely musical subtleties, aside from the obviously laid back breezy charm of the main melody.
Hopefully many readers will be aware of 'School of X' already, so we're delighted to point you in the direction of the new EP, and if not well we hope you enjoy our introduction to his music, as this is a really clever musician building an excellent reputation.