Agents Of Time deliver their highly anticipated Universo LP album on iconic imprint Kompakt.
The Weeknd’s latest Dawn FM performance of Take My Breath was remixed by Italian duo Agents Of Time. They have also released a number of timeless tracks, including their most recent one for Afterlife, The Mirage, which has garnered more than five million views on Instagram (Alternative World). The release of their second album, Universo, is the biggest news right now, though. Following their Music Made Paradise 2020 debut EP for the label, Universo has discovered its ideal home with Kompakt, elevating its recognizable melodic techno with an amazing pop-ness. It’s a convergence of ideas that makes total sense.
This album is based on our intimate stories, sharing our most personal emotions from the past two intense years. – Agents Of Time
The two members of Agents Of Time, Andrea Di Ceglie and Luigi Tutolo, used the time during the epidemic to work on Universo, an album that was largely inspired by their “personal universo,” a manifestation of the world that Di Ceglie and Tutolo created both inside and outside of their studio. This explains the sparkle and brightness of Universo, which is full of personality, vigor, and experimentation as the duo pushes the boundaries of their music. Get ready to be pleasantly surprised if you go into Universo expecting simply another album of melodic techno; there’s a lot more going on here, and it’s all equally engaging.
Expectations are immediately astounded by the two-step pop of Fallin‘, sung with gentle clarity by guest Audrey Janssens, a dream of a song that harkens back to the glory days of early ’00s UK garage. This comes after a typically poetic opening gesture—the swirling, synaesthetic, self-titled intro track.
Interstellar Cowboy is a confident, lithe, disco-fied strut; the gentle minor-key piano of Liquid Fantasy spirals into a gorgeously melancholy techno-pop epic, Vicky Who?’s voice rich with yearning. Janssens makes another appearance on Poison‘s electro-swirl; Dream Vision revisits their hit The Mirage, which is dramatic and gentle with sweeping strings; and Part Of Life enters the scene with a schaffel-stomp.
The more dancefloor-oriented songs, like Ciao, stand out even more against this rich variety because they are more determined, streamlined, and detailed, with chugging, Moroder-esque bass and strobe-lit synths that blast melodies into the heavens. Its noises are so tactile you want to reach out and touch them, and its music is so seductive you can’t get it out of your head. Universo has a rich texture, but it still breathes. A masterpiece of Agents Of Time, Universo is a passionately beautiful record with a daring spirit. It masterfully balances pop melody with elegant, velvety techno.
