Review: Thomas Fontana – Escape

Thomas Fontana makes a hybrid of chillwave and glitch-pop. While this isn’t anything new, Fontana’s ideas of composition and production make him stand out from his peers. Seamlessly mixing sharp beats and layered echoey vocals, his music has a dream-like quality about it that not only keeps your foot tapping but also your mind thinking “Where is this going now?”

After doing a spot of digging, you'll find out that Fontana is from Paris and this puts everything into context. You can hear the Metro rattling past clubbers on the way home, the Seine sloshing up steps as tourists pose for pictures on a hot day, female buskers singing their songs of woe and redemption in subway tunnels as the sound reverberates into the distance, bouquinistes calling to each other on a busy pavement and kids on mopeds trying to beat the rush hour traffic on their way home.

But, ultimately, what Fontana shows us is that a new wave of producers are reimaging not just the city they love but their role in it too. By the look, and sound, of it there is movement brewing in Paris and – thanks to labels like Cosmonostro – it is finding a way out into the world. There is an escape from boring presets and demo settings and that, despite the hour of the night, makes me feel awake and on the lookout for more of the same.