The whole of Lindstrøm’s return track, “De Javu,” sounds like a theme song to a retro-futuristic science fiction movie. The first few seconds sound like the opening of a space hatch to reveal Lindstrøm 2.0: Singing Lindstrøm. From there we have splotchy bass, creeping synth lines and all sorts of spindly beeps coursing beneath. When Lindstrøm’s vocals come in around the two minute mark, they’re all chopped up and incomprehensible, and it seems that the Scandinavian has just found another means of creating another technically brilliant layer in his music – and they’re particularly potent here when punctuated by couplets of horn blasts.
However, we do get more plain vocals from Lindstrøm a little further in, in what must be one of the most orthodox choruses he’s ever produced, followed shortly by a build with the words “can’t get no relief” repeated ad infinitum until you can’t help but join in either verbally or physically. In fact, the vocal performance is strong enough to make you wonder why he’s been hiding it from us all these years.
I can’t say I’ve figured out quite why he’s named the song “De Javu” rather than “Déjà vu,” but that’s Lindstrøm; he’ll cut things up and place them in a way that pleases him, and hopefully you too.
