Luurel Varas’s Prom Song aims for the dance floor

Luurel Varas sets out to make dance music with his short album “Prom Song,” but its stripped-back tracks lack the atmosphere and development that usually distinguish his work, ERR writes in a review first published by Müürileht.

Released on Joga Dong and rated 6 out of 10, “Prom Song” is Varas’s third release this year. He put out the EP “Crank” at the start of the year, followed in summer by his eighth album, “Putukas.” Each release has offered a different sound: “Crank” blended several forms of dance music, from dub to trap, while “Putukas” moved between lo-fi house and dub techno.

“Prom Song” is also difficult to pin to one genre, but its dance-floor focus is clear. The tracks revolve around simple rhythmic patterns, gradually moving between tension and release. The reviewer says this stripped-back approach leaves little to hold the listener’s attention, with the music’s atmospheric and melodic elements pushed into the background. As a result, the songs can feel one-dimensional and their peaks do little to distinguish them from the sections around them.

“Mana Host” is the album’s most danceable track, though it still leaves the reviewer wanting more. The title track is tech house in its most basic form: its central loop remains almost unchanged over seven minutes. “Fake LV” adds some Baltimore club energy but feels too superficial to make a lasting impression. “Sweet Sleep” is perhaps the album’s strongest track because it is the least monotonous, though it shares the other songs’ weaknesses.

Overall, the reviewer finds Varas’s latest effort meagre. The tracks feel like bare, dry skeletons, raising the question of whether the artist has set the bar too high for himself.