One of the most anticipated albums of 2016 will come courtesy of just one man and a laptop. We’re talking, of course, about Flume, aka 24-year-old Harley Streten, who helped put Aussie electronic dance music on the map with his self-titled 2012 debut.
The album was followed by a wave of critical and fan acclaim, ARIA Awards, high-profile remix gigs, well-received collaborations, and an extensive world tour that saw the young producer hitting up Lollapalooza in South America and blowing away crowds at Coachella.
All the while, Streten was keeping fans abreast of what was happening with the follow-up to his self-titled debut, sharing images of himself busy working on what many fans were already sure would be the defining Australian electronic release of 2016.
The producer has now shared a preview of his eagerly awaited sophomore release, titled Skin, and while it starts off sounding characteristically Flume-y, Streten soon throws a curveball right through your ear canal.
Since dropping his debut album, Flume has apparently been listening to a lot of releases from the Warp label, because Skin sounds like a shimmering amalgam of his classic sound and the industrial sounds of Aphex Twin, albeit at his most accessible.
Coming off such an iconic release, the preview has naturally divided opinion amongst the producer’s fans, with some loving the new direction (“god damn this is a strong preview”), others tuning out (“Hmmm… Didn’t dig the preview much”), and some sitting on the fence (“I’m almost afraid to listen to your new album”).
Streten dropped the preview, which is apparently a mash-up of several tracks on the album, via social media, promising fans that the album “is almost finished”, whilst revealing the title and some very eye-popping artwork.
Love Electronic?
Get the latest Electronic news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
You can download the preview here.
