Foregoing the big drops and unrelenting hammer beats of festival EDM on his debut album
Cloud Nine, Norwegian pianist and producer
Kygo (born
Kyrre Gorvell-Dahll) crafted relaxed, melodic pop-hook house aimed at secluded beaches, nocturnal haunts, and even romantic rendezvous. Boasting a full roster of guest vocalists,
Cloud Nine is music for the lounge, not the club, and the soundtrack to the post-party comedown. As the title suggests, this collection is pleasurable and light, lifting listeners to that eponymous place in the heavens. From the sparkling "Intro" to the plaintive closer "For What It's Worth,"
Cloud Nine is a cohesive journey where each song melts into the next along the connective thread that is
Kygo's celestial piano tinkling. The high points of the album are subtle nods to
Kygo's big influence,
Avicii, that combine folksy guitars atop thumping dance beats. "Fiction" features British singer/songwriter
Tom Odell and sounds like
Arcade Fire's
Win Butler guesting on a track by that aforementioned Swede. Irish band
Kodaline lend their acoustic guitar strumming to the
James Bay-penned "Raging." Irish singer
James Vincent McMorrow contributes a fragile falsetto to the arena-ready "I'm in Love." Elsewhere, juicier jams add some soul to
Cloud Nine, like on
Parson James' tropical house "Stole the Show,"
Will Heard's sensual "Nothing Left," and
Maty Noyes' pulsing "Stay." Stand-out centerpiece "Oasis" features British pop singer
Foxes on a
Sia-penned epic that incorporates a string section and the best
Chris Martin piano melody this side of "A Sky Full of Stars." It's also one of the few truly energetic moments on
Cloud Nine. To that end, some stretches of the album may be a little too sleepy and subdued, with songs bleeding together in a hypnotic haze. Nonetheless, refreshingly void of aggression or any deliberate tension,
Cloud Nine comforts with its positivity and charm. ~ Neil Z. Yeung
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