The pioneering yet synthwave hating talent Kavinsky we all know and love (some fans may not like now) has released his all anticipated Reborn album. One thing we all have seen from the single releases of Renegade and Zenith is that he still knows how to release great tunes still. Does this album meet expectations?

Pulsar opens up with a heart beat before going straight into the synthetic joy Kavinsky is well known for. Reborn festing Romauld gives a more commercial pop feel to it on a similar vain to Audio, Video, Disco album from Justice. Renegade is extremely funky and has a brilliant chorus with a great vocal performance by Cautious Clay. Trigger is a decent instrumental with great use of strings and choir pads making it feel epic. Goodbye featuring Sebastian Teller is a slow paced ballad with a beautiful piano melody, but sadly doesn’t deliver much. Plasma with Morgan Phalen turns it up to the max with its sound, groove, vocals and production making this my favourite song.

Cameo steadies the musical ship by keeping the high quality Plasma had. It is ridiculously catchy and Kareen Lomax sounds amazing on it. Zenith, with Prudence and Morgan Phelan, is a slow groove that is done perfectly compared to Goodbye, the melodies, vocals and general feel of Zenith is brilliant. Vigilante is a really good song but it feels a mix of French House and the band Asia, which works very well. Zombie is just an 80s work out sounding dream and absolutely slaps. Outsider is a slow tempo piano and bass jam that builds up into a string quartet of joy. Horizon is a nice sounding farewell to send you on your way from the album.

Kavinsky has released a good album with Reborn with very few misses, but Kavinsky’s strong points are on the level we all expect. The better songs are the ones with the vocals and there are some catchy tunes on Reborn. Reborn does hit the expectations on the head with its experimentation and brilliant songwriting. It’s not his beat album by any means but it is definitely worth a listen.

– Matthew Clewley
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