Lone
Always Inside your Head

I'm in love with this album, utterly smitten, so don't expect an objective review, perhaps not even a conventional one, but I'm the only one reviewing Lone's albums here anyway. Maturity, refinement, perfection, these were my fears when listening to Marc Cutler's works over the years, specifically since 2007 when he separated from Andy Hemsley in their project Kids in Tracksuits. Bio, stories, who cares, let's talk about music, nostalgia, and the '90s. A glance more backward than forward, but always unique, a quirky emulator. This is Lone's world, a world for old folks who rise from their seats upon hearing a TB 303, a lush pad, a breakbeat sample, or a four-on-the-floor kick drum. People like us, who would pester honest and innocent DJs at the console, asking them for the titles of vinyl records. Lil Louie, Orbital, LFO, Masters at Work, artists that made us dream with their sound. But there's an interesting detail: Cutler hasn't experienced any of this; he just replicates and reinvents that analog universe, thus ending up in an unusual singularity between old and new. Because even though almost everything is familiar, something sounds strangely new.

Are you still here? Always Inside your Head is the culmination of all this, distilled from many years of equally valid releases. An eternally summer album. Never an ugly or useless track from good old Cutler, but there was always that crucial step missing, which he finally achieved here. The title is perfect, as is the cover: a true party in paradise, an apotheosis of melody, idyllic visions, relaxation, and random rhythmic bursts. And as planned, AIYH doesn't want to leave my player; I now associate it with my beloved beach house, with its lush pines, warmth, sea, and salt air, the endless walks. By now, every track on the album takes me there, and I hope you find your totem too. "No one can tell you if you're in love, you just know," I think it went like that. I almost forgot! For the first time, a Lone album is sung, with Morgan Diet's voice almost always present, but it doesn't change much as it is implemented like an instrument. Her heavily filtered, chopped, and hyper-processed interventions end up evolving in symbiosis with all the tracks, creating an extraordinary homogeneity.

The genres explored range from downbeat, ambient, breakbeat, techno, house with Balearic tones in tracks like "Inlove2," where the first part feels directionless. But we are always and undeniably in the '90s, with Technics turntables, to be clear. Deep down, I don't feel like mentioning the track names at all, they were just put there to write something; instead, take this incredible masterpiece with you and play it randomly, wherever you go, it will be a pleasure.

I'll stop here and return to my Shangri La. Peace and enjoy the sea, everyone.