Olof Dreijer: Loud Bloom review – the Knife star’s debut solo album is a garden of earthly delights
Swedish producer Olof Dreijer is best known for his collaborations with his sibling Karin, notably in their duo the Knife and Karin's solo project Fever Ray. For the latter, he contributed four brilliant tracks on the 2023 album Radical Romantics. While his beats on these records often featured African-Caribbean-Latin syncopation, they also carried a distinct Scandinavian winter gloom.
In contrast, his debut solo album, Loud Bloom, seems to reach upwards toward sunlight like flowers, with each track named after a floral species. Dance music enthusiasts may already recognize some of these tracks from EPs released as far back as 2023, but together they showcase Dreijer's unique musical fingerprint: you can identify his work from just half a second of music.
His melodies squiggle through the air like a beach ball caught in a strong breeze, while distorted notes rear up in surprise or tilt their heads quizzically. The rhythms draw from cumbia, kuduro, dancehall, techno, and more, but are complicated with fiendish funk and anti-quantized details. Charismatic guest vocalists from Sudan (MaMan), Colombia (Diva Cruz), and South Africa (Toya Delazy) go toe-to-toe with these beats, adding global flavor.
Later in the album, the drums recede for contemplative studies in metal strings and ambient tones. While these moments may be slightly less original than the dance tracks, they still move with the same impetuous rhythmic sensibility. Dreijer has created his own walled garden of psychedelia, conjuring the light and scent of a summer in bloom.
