Joris Voorn - Nobody Knows [FLAC] (2014)

On Joris Voorn's Dusty House series, track titles like "Sweep The Floor" and "We're All Clean" suggested a man who likes to keep things spick and span. On his acclaimed 2009 Balance mix, the Dutch producer fastidiously trimmed and packed over 100 tunes into a shiny two-disc set. And on his past LPs, 2004's Future History and 2007's From A Deep Place, his soulful techno was so polished you could see your face in it. Voorn shares his knack for lush melodies with the prog house fraternity, but instead of letting them spill over into overwrought breakdowns, he keeps them tidily bundled into deep house and techno tracks.

Unsurprisingly, Voorn's third album is once again full of impeccably sumptuous sonics. With its fluttering melody and driving bassline, the recent single and late Ibiza anthem "Ringo" shows his MO in full effect. "The Wild" is the kind of sophisticated peak-time house you'd find in a Will Saul set, and the sleek techno of "Fall" ends with tinkling ivories that sound like a cocktail pianist playing as the lights come up. With tracks like "The Monk," whose petals of Latin guitar are strewn across a bed of ambience, or "Sweets For Piano," with its swelling string section, Voorn seems happy to stray further from the dance floor this time. Even better is "Dust," an Ulrich Schnaussian epic that, though perhaps as predictable as the blockbuster film it seems desperate to soundtrack, still leaves you a bit teary-eyed.

More surprising, though, are the vocal tracks. While much of Nobody Knows sounds soaked in dance floor serotonin, moments like the sombre ballad "A House" seem more inspired by the loneliness of the international DJ lifestyle. That's what Matthew Dear seems to be getting at on "Homeland" when he sings: "I can't remember when / the last time I saw my home and all my friends / but they tell me my life has never been better." His vocal appearance is a highlight on an album that's close to spotless in more ways than one.

Tracklist /
01. The Monk
02. A House feat. Kid A
03. Homeland feat. Matthew Dear
04. The Wild
05. Sweets For Piano
06. So Long feat. Kid A
07. Ringo
08. Mugged
09. MoMo
10. Fall
11. Left
12. Dust feat. Bram Stadhouders