Review Summary: A pharmacy bag's fill with infectious, accessible EDM material.
There wasn't without a doubt that Swedish progressive house duo Galantis was gonna blow up sooner or later, and why wouldn’t they be? These guys practically took over Coachella in 2014, garnering praise from music critics and fans alike as the biggest dance performance of that year’s festival. However, their first set of material with last spring's self-titled EP didn't live up to the hype - coming away as arguably the most disappointing EDM record of the year. With their first hit with "Runaway (You & I)", it has set up the anticipation and renewed hopes with their long-awaited debut album Pharmacy, a dance record that has its counters filled with mind-inducing songs ready to be prescribed into your summer playlist.
Galantis’ self-titled EP was bombarded by candy-coated house that felt like a intergalactic space jump - intense but the way it was orchestrated felt generic. Fortunately, you will find little of it featured in Pharmacy, with uplifting tracks like the galactic "Gold Dust" killing with its lush synths and thumping bass - blending with its energetic keyboards for a weirdly emotive track that also feels serene at the same time. This is immense throughout the album, following the commonality of today's EDM by slowly reving up the engine, sometimes done with a touch of acoustic rather than aesthetic. The unoriginality is clear and the acoustic bit makes some of it Avicii-esque of sorts, but Galantis takes it up a notch that doesn't feel recycled - conjuring up a record that isn't mind-numbing for the most part, but rather fun and a blast to listen to.
If you want a fun EDM record to jam to, Galantis' debut album loads up the counters with just that. A prime example is the silky "Peanut Butter Jelly", featuring a hefty amount of '70s disco influence with creamy, colorful synth lines smacking upon each other with pulsating bass crashing in various parts during its course. The catchy lyricism is to note as well, with lines like "spread it like a peanut butter jelly" destined to be unsurprisingly stuck in the minds of listeners for months to come. This is the kind of material that should drive Galantis away from the bubbling stratosphere of EDM artists and into the exclusive club of elite EDM artists excelling today - even if this doesn't break into the mainstream like some have done. Other songs like the sun-bathed "You" provide more reinforcement to an album that has an abundance of solid material.
Pharmacy is one of 2015's better EDM records, but it also leaves with the usual side-effects that water down albums in this genre. It stumbles a little bit with songs like the fiery "Runaway (You & I", which was a complete disaster all over. The lyricism is downright horrid with lines like the constant "you and I, I, I ,I, I, I...." in the hook, not to mention how the hook actually sounds. The production on the song is terrific minus the hook, fronting a spacey, mystical atmosphere in between until the crackling, synth-powered hook that is just too much. Other than that, it is infinitely better than their first attempt, bringing a record that does justice for its infectious, fun sound. Just make sure you don't blast this too much, we don't need an overdose to happen ok?
