Boris Carloff, a Czech musician and producer, is currently being hailed a musical genius in his home country. Recently the recipient of a Czech Grammy for his release, The Escapist, the artist is definitely on a career upswing — one that, in theory, should get him plenty of notice outside of Europe. Carloff definitely has a strong set of skills that enable him to sculpt his cinematically elegant brand of electonica into pop marvels, but he isn’t doing anything remarkably left-of-centre. There’s a certain Matmos-noodling of beats, which gives his numbers a curious, pleasing shudder and Carloff lavishly ornaments his structures with a tasteful colouring of classical piano and strings.
But everything seems so studied … and polite. Even the rough scrapings of electric guitar can’t sully up the grooves of “In My Lonely Room”. It’s a toe-tapping, chilled number for sure, but it’s far from the dangerous ground explored by some of the more intrepid electronic artists. Perhaps that was the intent — Carloff seems more interested in mood and atmosphere, as evidenced on the hymnal “Shadows”, where his coal-dusted voice wraps around the ghostly multi-tracked chorus of vocals. But even when the proceedings begin to swing a little more and pick up momentum, such as on the dubby, near-house excursion of “To Each of You”, Carloff’s overly mannered approach keeps things tethered to the ground when it feels like they should all fly heavenward.