TODD RUNDGREN, EMIL NIKOLAISEN & HANS-PETER LINDSTROM: RUNDDANS

The biggest curve ball of 2015 has got to be this baffling release. It is always interesting to hear old timers doing something new, fresh and above all completely original. Teaming up with guitarist and front man off Norwegian alternative rock band Serena-Maneesh, Emil Nikolaisen, and space disco pioneer Hans-Peter Lindstrøm, Todd seems to have gone for a modern and altogether different sonic route than what he's accustomed to.....which, of course, is quite true. What you effectively get here is something so strange and unique that it literally had me reaching for my spare ears. 'Runddans' is Donna Summer without the bass boom and danceable vibe - it's disco heading for the avantguarde - upbeat and elusive like a fox in a sauna.

The music is build around Lindstrøm and Nikolaisen's electronic programming and synth bleeps - evoking a fluffy and airy cotton candy universe on which Rundgren's evocative vocals weave in and out like voices on the wind or in a hazy dream. The whole thing feels highly unorthodox. When a melody or a rare groove occasionally seems to take shape it rather quickly fades away into the aforementioned swirling candy world......which makes it all the more surprising that you actually remember the returning vocal theme 'Put Your Arms Around Me' sung affectionately by the old master himself.

More than anything 'Runddans' feels like an experiment. An experiment from three musicians who all professionally dabble in the high art of mixing...on here though you feel as if you're sat in a room where three different albums are playing all at once - challenging every player involved to listen intently to his surroundings yet without ever losing the scope of his own vision...and how it stacks up with what's zooming out of his playmates.

This album is one long story where tracks, ethereal vocalisations, airy synths and disco sensibilities are forged together with the occasional rock and pop cameo. The music though never sounds normal....even when it incorporates those beautiful recurring vocal themes. It is far too shapeshifting and elusive for that. On the contrary 'Runddans' seems determined to bend and writhe styles of music that, to most people, are sacrilegious to alter or even play around with. Mostly because it takes away the easy digestible hook and groove of the disco movement and splices it together with a remarkable ebb and flow effect that will have most listeners pulling out their hair. The main thing to remember about music, especially with an album like this, is that it often is the journey that counts. 'Runddans' is a continuous search for a lost melody - a memory of an old grandiose disco production - only delivered over to the listener as a rather charming if not wholly fragmented piece of experimental music.

If you're sitting out there with a girlfriend who's both an old extra from Saturday Night Fever and a raving schizophrenic, then 'Runddans' is for you. I tried dancing to it once and ended up on the floor with my legs in the air doing these strange elliptical shaking motions. 'Wow' I said to myself 'this is what John Travolta looks like when he simultaneously is doing mescaline and trying on pants'. 3.5 stars.

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