Sven Laux presents his first full-length album, after several EP's and remixes, and his first works with Microcosm. Sven's material is a fitting, rich and compelling addition to the catalogue, as his sensibilities are aligned with the label's manifesto while stamping out his own approach to these ideas. Moody at times, freshly uninhibited at others, Homesickness or Nostalgia ponders dance floor music that tethers you to its origins. Equal parts mid-tempo funk and heady found house, Sven uses tropes of the ultra-modern electronic landscape towards his devices, along with a more classic sense of bass tone and forward momentum, of the history of these arenas of 4/4. Quirky and bouncy with a heart that drives through each track, the titles suggest the motivations. Infusing his music not just with an array of non-traditional sound sources, but ones with memory associations, Sven is filling the album with a personal story, even if it is one that only he knows. Truncated vocals befriend street sounds and warm pads. Playful grooves make measured use of beeps, scrapes and static-inflected hooks. Rhythms stutter over themselves in some moments while remaining completely true to form in others. At times it can feel like you're walking down a street, passing scenes of sounds emanating from people's windows, all the while keeping a steady pulse in your headphones that ties the thread through it all, identifying it as one object that has several tangents. In this fashion it is able to cover the bases of a sweaty warehouse, an evening at home and the morning after a late night out. Homesickness or Nostalgia is an excellent mark in the continuum of dance floor influenced sound that straddles categories, that wants to remain part of its inspirations while not getting too bogged down in function. Sven would agree that house, techno and all its mini subdivisions require treating the whole as an art form to be pushed and pulled and occasionally reinvigorated in order to be kept living, to never forget where it came from and some of its more overt purposes. Artwork painted by Michael Lens & edited by Doreen Schröder http://microcosm-music.com http://svenlaux.com https://www.beatport.com/en-US/html/content/release/detail/327659/Homesickness%20Or%20Nostalgia RELEASE DATE 2011-02-25 LABEL Microcosm CATALOG # MCOSM1024