Luomo - Convivial

Luomo gets back on the right track with _Convival_, his fourth album, and the first to hearken back to the glory days of _Vocalcity_. Of course, the sultry vocals by Cassy Britton on "Have You Ever" don't hurt in the least. Apparat's Sascha Ring puts in his lyrical contribution to "Love You All," which combines his smooth indie-emo stylings with an electro groove for a surprisingly powerful effect. And on "If I Can't," Jake Shears from the Scissor Sisters puts his sexiness to the test with some mellow, mid-tempo house (even if the track goes on a bit too long). "Nothing Goes Away," however, seems like more of a throwback to _The Present Lover_, which isn't necessarily bad, though it isn't necessarily good either. Indeed, after the guest singers, the album's energy seems to lag a bit, and not even Robert Owens (on "Robert's Reason") can bring it back all the way. "Sleep Tonight" has a funky, wobbly sound that helps revive the proceedings, even as "Gets Along Fine" wanders a bit aimlessly. Still, a good number bright moments here, even as it plays catch-up to what remains the seminal _Vocalcity_.

Luomo's Convival presents nothing new for the genre of house music as it follows the same sort of beats and production styles used for tens of years. The melodic down-tempo house beat drums on with sultry and sumptuous effects applied to instruments and voices to give just the right amount of sensuality to the grooves. Even though the production and mix is on par, even skillfully done, there lacks any quality to really set this album apart from any other house music album released in the past 25 or so years

That said, I do feel the vast array of guests providing lyrics and vocals help the album. Guests include Cassy Britton, Sascha Ring, Jake Shears, Sue-C, Johanna Iivanainen, Robert Owens and Chubbs. I could take or leave the breathy and trembling female vocals (thanks, but I've heard it to death). What stands out to me appears on "Love You All" (track 2). Sascha Ring (aka. Apparat, a peer of Ellen Allien and BPitch Records) provides a beautiful and simple voice - masculine and plain in a Thom Yorke style - enough to set the track apart from "typical" house music.

Sasu Ripatti has constantly been under stress every time he changes style, particularly with regards to Luomo. Once Vladislav Delay was linked to Luomo and "Vocalcity", fans of Vladislav Delay couldn't believe he was capable producing such housey rubbish. When he came out with "The Present Lover", fans of "Vocalcity" felt he had gone too pop-like. When he came out with "Paper Tigers", fans of the previous two albums became even more lost. So "Convivial", with its great likeness to "Paper Tigers" and its array of guest stars, won't win anyone back to the fold. In fact, it might just lose even the most ardent Luomo/Ripatti fans. "Convivial" highlights that exuding sensuality - regardless of the level of subtlety (and on "Paper Tiger", it certainly was not subtle) - is what makes it all Luomo; it does that by bearing no such qualities. Although it remains danceable, the sound has lost most of the soul that characterised previous Luomo works. That said, in instrumental form (available from the Huume website), this album would work brilliantly as an Uusitalo album, as the more cold mechanistic nature of the production lends itself better to being associated with that moniker.

As much as I hate to agree with Andy Kellman about anything, he might have been right when he said back when "Paper Tigers" came out that it was time to put Luomo to rest.