American electronic music duo Odesza have found themselves mostly on the darker side of chillwave and downtempo, best known for their sweeping, cinematic pieces of minimal tech that are as propulsive as they are introspective. Sonically opposite is Emile van Dango, AKA Yellow House, the Cape Town indie folk artist whose dreamy sound is rooted in languorous lofi and gentle, lullaby-like melodies. The meeting of these two forces looks to highlight an inherent thread that exists in each. For Odesza, it’s the ruminative undertones that ground their body music, while for van Dango, it’s the immersive electronica that has since now only ever buzzed faintly beneath his layers of soft percussion and guitar strums.
Flaws In Our Design, their joint EP, is a stunningly realised collaborative effort that represents a stylistic shift for each. Flaws In Our Design sees Odesza delve into indie psychedelia, applying their signature big room drums and future bass synths to this more laid back approach, solidified by van Dango’s pensive and melancholic melodies. As Yellow House, van Dango’s performance across Flaws In Our Design cannot be understated. His voice holds its own amidst what is for him a new sonic landscape, never at odds with Odesza’s production and always operating with deft emotional gravitas.
Download and stream Flaws In Our Design
The result plays like a collection of contemporary folk songs that exist between shades of house and indietronica, recalling the same sort of new age psychedelic pop made famous by Tame Impala. This is most evident on the trippy title track, which floats through kaleidoscopic clouds with a dubby beat and endless textures of psychedelic motifs, though this can sometimes feel familiar and underwhelming (Easy Money). On tracks like Heavier, the melding of van Dango and Odesza is more successful, a dream pop anthem exploding in a spectrum of future bass colours. Likewise, the happy-go-lucky opening bars of Waiting Forever surge satisfyingly into cathartic, energetic jungle.
Flaws In Our Design is one of those intriguing projects that feels exciting by virtue of its novelty. At its best, it manages to find common ground between two disparate approaches, revealing a new side to Odesza that openly embraces exploration.
