Album Review: Young Magic Melt Celline

Melt is that alternate universe you've been searching for, the one that pulls you into its colourful and hypnotic aura and makes you forget about your reality, like running wild in a forest whilst high on acid, or growing delirious with hallucinations from a sweltering heat.

The sonically-charged debut of the Brooklyn-based outfit sees the band seamlessly fuse psychedelic soul, UK bass and instrumental hip hop together with an array of skillful synth work – all of which sits calmly on West African rhythms. It's these rhythms that heighten the record and takes the listener to new lengths. Opener, Sparkly, gets things moving quickly with its outstanding chain-hitting-the-drum effect. Warped in nature, the song breaks into a thousand pieces, reforms and then shatters once more, all the while swirling across from one speaker to the other and back again. Undoubtedly a highlight, along with the short and sweet Cavalry, and the rhythmically divine The Dancer.

Accumulating sounds, influences and images from their travels, the three-piece – two of whom are Australian expats and the third, Indonesian-born – has created an album that is a mélange of cultural influences. Many of the songs were recorded in various culturally rich locations including the San Juan Tlacotenco mountains in Mexico, Iguazu Falls in Argentina, and across Europe, using a range of obscure instruments from selected countries. In particular, Melati Malay's Indonesian background influences the album in various ways, from song titles – Yalam, Jam Karet – to the incorporation of Asian musical elements as the basic pentatonic scale creeps up in certain songs including Watch For Our Lights and Sanctuary. A stunning debut.