Producer, collaborator, remixer, and head of the Tigersushi label, Joakim Bouaziz has offered up a kaleidoscope of genres with his sprawling discography, but on Tropics of Love his heart is firmly with house music, running the gamut from the late-night, deep stuff to the blippy and electro-flavored.
As far as the latter, the key cut here is "This Is My Life," where a computerized voice recounts Joakim's rich and varied upbringing ("In 1991, I was listening to Jimi Hendrix on the school bus" or "In 1998, I was in love with the wrong girl"), but the former is represented by plenty of highlights that are lush and filled with rich, buttery soul.
Inspired in part by French artist Camille Henrot, whose artwork graces the album's cover, numbers like "Bring Your Love" intertwine warm melodies with the certain thump of drum machine, although quirks and indie devices put these tracks more in the Toro y Moi camp than Frankie Knuckles.
Plenty of Laurie Anderson-like vocal samples dot the album as "3 Laser Fingers" feels like "O Superman" after an Ibiza trip, but somehow this tasteful and hip effort is able to casually stroll its way to a soprano sax solo during "On the Beach," a soft example of yacht house suggesting that Boards of Canada, Seals & Crofts, and Daft Punk are all sharing the same bungalow.
All these light moments are tempered with Joakim's wistful, distant vocals, as if the album were a lazy getaway where breezy beaches during the day give way to bittersweet memories around the evening campfire.
Sweet stuff, and besides that, it sticks.