Vallès, a 21 year old French House savant working out of Ibiza, was the latest apple of TMN’s eye, largely behind the release of perhaps one of the most musically mature and texturized pop-leaning debuts we had had the chance to wrap our ears around in some time, with his St. Lucia EP. St. Lucia is the first collection of originals from the young disco maestro, but a knack for funky high-energy samples paired with toned down, groovy bass lines has already blueprinted his deft French Touch sound. St. Lucia functions closely within most of these parameters, leading off with the incredibly emotive pacesetter, “Heartbeat”, which clearly touches on Vallès’ cited influences of Daft Punk Discovery era 90’s French-House and the almighty 70’s funk wave in which held the distinguished spot as America’s leading dance genre at the time. St. Lucia‘s sophomore entry, the single for which the extended play was named, is a breezy synth-pop track, drenching its listener in neon, 80’s dance tones. Once our complete psyche was enveloped by “Heartbeat” and “St. Lucia”, Vallès slows things up a bit to let the rest of the album breathe, utilizing the downtempo electronic backbone of “Farewell” to iron out the whole movement to a brisk stride. If we haven’t gushed enough already, just let us leave you with the fact that we absolutely believe that St. Lucia is one of the most worthy individual electronic listening album efforts within the last five years.
Furthermore, as St. Lucia was released today via Neonized Records, we were gifted with three additional featured remixes from talented artists L’Étranger, and Cosmonaut Grechko, so there should be a little slice of Vallès appropriate for any number of eclectic ninja listeners. Listen to Vallès’ St. Lucia EP below.
