When Avicii announced his retirement from touring, I already vlogged about how I thought this didn’t mean the end of his career, but how I saw it more as the beginning of something new. To me, it just looked like he was making room for other things and he would be making more music. This week, I was proven right. Out of the blue, Avicii dropped a whole new EP called “Avīci” with featurings from Rita Ora and others.
The EP contains 6 tracks and was dropped on August 10th. Immediately, the track with Rita Ora made its way to my timeline (what a surprise). It’s called “Lonely Together” and contains a lot of effects on Rita’s vocals, which I have to get used to, because I actually like her vocals raw. Even though, the country sound in dance music has never become my favorite, I actually love the opening track, “Friend of Mine” the best (featuring Vargas & Lagola).
Altogether, the EP is a bit of a strange mix of tracks, because every song seems to have a completely different sound. Avicii has decided to mix a bit of the old dance trends and mix it with some new trends, but he also brings in some rock influences. If anything, the connection I can find with the tracks lies more within the structure of the songs. Avicii has used some sort of template for that, which is what has also dominated the dance charts for several years. Let’s face it, he did impact the sound we hear today and the EP brings you his sound, despite some experimental touches.
I, personally, think he could’ve done a little less effects on some of the vocals, because I also think it’s too much on the soulish, but so pitched, “So Much Better”. He does seem to favor making it sound digitalized.
We’ll have to wait and see whether the EP will be followed up with a full album any time soon, but after more than a year silence, Avicii appears to be fully operational again.
