My browsing history tells me that I’ve googled RIP Swirl pretty regularly since last summer, but it was only recently that I included a track in the Friday Setlist. “Clayboy” hit me like something from way back – shades of Portishead and Hooverphonic, with gentle vocals from Ydegirl1 over an enigmatic and layered instrumental. It’s soothing and melancholy and I can’t get enough of it.
This week the follow up single was released. “Spirals On My Tongue” is cut from the same cloth as “Clayboy”, another downtempo EDM track – a simple, soothing pleasure just in time for spring weather, and cued me to find out more:
RIP Swirl’s 2024 record Perfectly Blue is the kind of album that feels built for a late night drive on a rainy evening, stuck in traffic and lost in your thoughts. Released on October 17, 2024, via Public Possession, Berlin-based Luka Seifert and his guest vocalists give a masterclass in blending shoegaze and early-2000s electronica with a modern, melancholic twist.
The title track, “Perfectly Blue (feat. Winter),” sets the mood with shoegaze guitars and Winter’s hazy vocals singing, “Our love is from a story book / Recollections from the skies.” It’s melancholic yet warm, like nostalgia for a moment you can’t quite place:
In an interview with Dazed, Seifert presents the mood of the album like this:
I wasn’t feeling my happiest when making this album, but at the same time I felt like our society has this enormous pressure to feel happy all the time – which is sooner or later going to drive you crazy. Just being content with feeling blue once in a while and maybe even embracing it, channelling it into something productive, like this record.
The 11 tracks on Perfectly Blue balance live instrumentation with electronic elements in different ways throughout, but maintain the feeling of an album, rather than a mixtape. Standout track “Call Me (feat. Tanukichan),” has a dreamy, downtempo vibe, similar to the recent Vitesse X album—Tanukichan’s soft vocals paired with Seifert’s shimmering synths feel like a late-’90s time capsule, but fresher, more alive.
Six of the 11 songs are instrumental, several evoking classic trip-hop sounds, and melodies suited to the come-down after a wild late night. “Nothing to Do” mixes a guitar progression with synths and spoken word samples to a soothing, dreamlike effect. Album closer “Takeaway” is a low-key guitar instrumental that could be the lost backing track for a Radiohead b-side, and it ends just as it’s getting started.
I was pleasantly surprised to see blog faves untitled (halo) on here too, guesting on “Negative Fantasy”, which fits right into their sweet spot:
Siefert got a strong positive review in Pitchfork for his debut record, 2022’s Blurry, which was pretty much a purely electronic endeavour. The evolution he’s showing with Perfectly Blue or the new singles with Ydegirl show a much more nuanced and delicate approach to his craft. I was slow to catch on to RIP Swirl’s music, but I’ll be eagerly awaiting his next release.
He’s on tour in North America this spring with Provoker.
