The closer summer gets, the louder the music, the brighter the colors, and the longer the playlists. The sun is just starting to warm the asphalt, and we already have tracks in our ears that feel like they’ve burst straight out of a sunset disco. So hold on tight: your days are about to be filled with fresh, addictive, and energizing tunes – the kind that make you want to wander until dawn, drive with no destination, and fall in love spontaneously and without hesitation. And now – like a soft, warm breeze from the shores of Java – Wandour bursts in with his new EP “Iridescent Serenade”. An indie-electronic producer and visual artist from Jakarta, his melodies are like crystals: transparent, shimmering, as if crafted not on synthesizers, but on sonic facets.
In this EP, Wandour expands his creative potential by juggling genres: there’s melodic house, synthwave, warm pop, and techno. They rather dance together in the rhythm of the city. Imagine this: night, the city hums in the distance, neon shimmers in puddles, and you’re standing alone in an empty parking lot, music in your headphones mysterious and alluring, gentle yet full of life. Six tracks, and each one is like a beam of light refracted through a prism of emotions. The release opens with “Serenade“, soft and atmospheric. At first, everything sounds calm, classical. Peaceful chords, delicate notes – as if you’ve put on an old record somewhere on a veranda during a summer evening. And then suddenly, bang! A shot into the air. The beat drops – juicy, thick, powerful. The moment of calm is over. It’s like you’ve been pulled out of your chair and thrown into the middle of the dance floor. The body starts moving on its own, because it’s impossible to resist. And there’s nothing you can do about it. Only feel. Only move.
The second track, “Higher,” really does lift you up – just as promised. The bass here is so dense, you feel it from the inside, while the vocals dissolve into the air, as if someone is quietly humming from afar. All of it is framed by soft, airy synthesizers. They don’t lead so much as they catch you – and it feels like you’re riding an elevator with no buttons, not knowing which floor you’ll end up on, just moving upward with no point of reference. The melodies in “Higher” are unhurried, yet constantly in motion. And by the end, there’s only one desire left – not to rush back down. We gradually reach the middle of the record. The tracks “Shine” and “Iridescent” show how technological sound seamlessly transforms into the continuation of a summer dance party atmosphere. “Shine” captures a mood where everything glitters around you, yet doesn’t let you relax – you feel every detail, every moment. There’s nostalgia in the track, hope, warmth, and a touch of magic. “Iridescent,” in turn, echoes parties that last until morning, and dancing in the kitchen when no one’s around and you can just be yourself. It’s all blended into one very captivating sound.
“Glow” is perhaps the most urban track. It sounds like a subway train just entering a tunnel, with a deep, prolonged horn, the echo of a locomotive from a distant future where metal and technology have gained consciousness. Its mood is the rhythm of the metropolis, dynamic, pulsing, endless. The bass slides along like it’s riding rails, while the synths reflect the city lights flashing in train windows and on tunnel walls. It’s the sound of urban life, where every note is movement, speed, and tension, all leading to the closing track of the EP, the composition “Away.” Here, Wandour sheds all sentimentality and turns on “electronic music with no brakes”: syncopated rhythms, an aggressively restless structure, dense layers of analog textures. Its sound is like a drive on a night highway without GPS, just speed and an endless stream of light. In it, there’s the exhaustion of the metropolis, its endless race, and the loneliness that hides behind thousands of lights. Sound turns into magnetic space here, almost like the hypnotic noise of a big city at its peak.
“Iridescent Serenade” is a carefully crafted sound design project that showcases Wandour’s artistic maturity. Drawing a little from electronic avant-garde and pop sensuality, he sets his own pace, the pace of those who see the city as a living organism. And yet, despite the urban context, there’s another important layer in this EP – a warm, barely perceptible connection to nature. Maybe it’s the echo of a Jakarta summer, where even the noise of the highway filters through a veil of humid air and the chirping of cicadas outside the window. Or perhaps it’s an intuitive memory of sunsets over the tropical coast of Java, where the sky, like Wandour’s music, shimmers with every shade from muted ochre to neon fuchsia. Behind the synthesizers, basslines, and digital pulses, one can sense not only concrete and glass, but also the breath of the earth – soaked in rain, sunlight, and dreams.
For fans of electronic music, “Iridescent Serenade” and Wandour may become a discovery. And for everyone else a perfect reason to slow down, close your eyes, and allow yourself to feel what summer in Indonesia smells like and what a dream sounds like when born between the noise of a metropolis and the whisper of palm trees.
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