DAS ELITE
Landslide
Gävle, Sweden
DAS ELITE is a phenomenon. An outburst of electric pop in a space that sorely needs it. Their sound is wonderful and bright, glistening like raindrops against neon signs, falling from dark clouds onto chrome streets. It's a future sound, but it's not sparkly and happy. A realistically human sound, one that shuns the light and brings forth true emotions with its synthetic charm. DAS ELITE’s latest release, ‘Landslide EP,’ is a collection of songs and remixes that captures exactly what electric music can bring to the modern day. The EP is a looking glass, trained toward the future. It's not all roses, sometimes it's dark. But there is beauty in that darkness, buried beneath the rubble of the past. It takes a true talent to uncover it, and DAS ELITE has that talent.
‘Landslide EP’ starts off with ‘Landslide.’ The title track has earned its place as the first on the EP. It's bold, bright and full of tonal shifts that send you hurtling into Night City. It starts solemn, a pulsing synth chord echoes over the landscape. A rich bass burrows deep in the ground, riling up the vocals that stay calm and collected nonetheless. Pads breathe life into the air, a discordant chord shifts the mood, it feels wholly new and like an 80s classic at the same moment. The lyrics are heartfelt and carry the emotion; the instrumental is calculated and synthetic, carrying the beat. When the first drop arrives, it hits you as a landslide should. It's vast, deep, unpredictable and unstoppable. It barrels up to you, seeming slow, but travelling at hundreds of miles per hour. The vocals are serene, above it all. Watching the chaos ensue from their invisible safe haven. As the song progresses it turns more instrumental but it never loses that human touch. A melody that is as catchy as they come and an instrumental that tugs on each and every heartstring.
Carrying on from that heavy-hitting track comes ‘Align.’ It’s a darker open; a faster-paced track that plays with percussive synth and favours atmosphere over beat. Massive pads climb the dark walls. The Arpeggio rule the future, bleak and red they scan for life, finding only scraps in the barren landscape. Soon the vocals call out from far away, a last bastion of hope. They ignite the electrical army and the beat picks up, it's bright, inviting. At its core, however, is something sinister, foreshadowed by the dissonant chords. The major into minor. It’s all coming to a close, scored by the mighty sounds of DAS ELITE.
The rest of the EP shows different visions of DAS ELITE’s dystopia. Remixes of ‘Landslide’ from Moist, JEC and Magnus Moody. Each adding their own twist, their own bleak view of humanity, and their own glimmer at the end of the tunnel. This electric collection of cacophonous tracks is masterful in its imagery and beat work. Painting pictures with halogen and taking you away to twisted, gear fulled worlds. ‘Landslide EP’ from DAS ELITE is a sci-fi novella in sound that breaks every norm and welds them back together again.