Aorta’s interest in things southern European, as evidenced by Allerseelen’s album “Venezia”, has extended to the patronage of a number of Catalan acts, including Ô Paradis. Perhaps inevitably, a comparison can be made between Ô Paradis and Allerseelen, with the former appearing as the southern equivalent of the latter.

Most of the songs are based on samples, exquisitely knitted together over original bass-lines, and topped off with Demian’s somewhat mournful and nostalgic vocals. Despite being richly produced, some of the songs have a bare, folky quality about them, with Demian’s Spanish vocals creating an air of impenetrability to my Anglo-Saxon ears. This is not a negative, just something that underlines the difference between this project and its patron. It is also something that is less noticeable when concession are made to, how does one say, catchiness, such as on the simply gorgeous ‘Por Cuidar de Mi, Amor’, in which a beautiful synth line carries the song along. One could say that the folkier songs are solid and beautiful, whilst tracks like ‘Por Cuidar’, and the equally gorgeous ‘Palabras’, are just transcendent.

The clarity of the album‚s production is worth emphasising, as is the stunning foldout digipak.

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