“L E V I T A T E” by EONS

In his latest single “L E V I T A T E,” EONS fuses seductive melodies with a surreal, dreamlike soundscape that will melt your heart on contact. Right from the start of the song, a synthetic harmony is gripping us tightly and guiding us into the depths of a viciously intoxicating, albeit pendulous, set of grooves. The energy is equal parts erogenous and ominous as we come into the blissful warmth of the chorus for the first time, and while the beats are simple and conservatively distributed throughout the track, they’re hardly without any substance in the grander scheme of things. “L E V I T A T E” might be steeped in minimalism, but make no mistake about it – this is one of the more generously melodic postmodern pop songs you’re likely to hear this spring.

Everything about this single is larger than life – from the grandiosity in the lead vocal to the textures in the pulsating percussion that frames it so exquisitely from a distance – but I don’t know that I would go so far as to say that it’s an exercise in artistic indulgence. There’s definitely no question as to whether or not EONS is giving us all of himself in “L E V I T A T E;” lyrically, though the verses are formed out of an enigmatic style of prose, we’re constantly presented with a sense of intimacy in the words they contain. The music is brooding, unaggressive and stylized around the bittersweet serenade at the center of the song, and try as we might, avoiding the hypnotizing glow of the radiant sonic ribbonry is a difficult task to say the least.

The vocal is woven directly into the synth parts here, which makes it somewhat difficult to tell where one element in the melody ends and another begins once we get into the chorus. This isn’t to dismiss the meticulous mixing of the track – in fact, far from it. It’s more a compliment for EONS, as when he’s firing on all cylinders and delivering his most moving of lyrics, he seems to become one with the instrumentation behind him. I would have made the percussion a tad louder in a couple of spots, but all in all, “L E V I T A T E” is actually one of the more evenly produced singles that I’ve heard out of this scene.

Fans of dream pop and ambient R&B would be wise to check out this most recent studio cut from EONS. To a certain extent, I think that this song represents a transitional point for the artist; it’s one that merges his past with his present in pure, uncorrupted harmonic tones that are quite difficult to get out of your head once you’ve been introduced to them. There’s an experimentalism here that wasn’t present in his past work, and hopefully it’s only a taste of what he has in store for us in future releases. While there are plenty of exciting new singles from across the pop spectrum out this season, I highly recommend taking a look at “L E V I T A T E,” if for no other reason than to experience its wistful, evocative excess.

Mindy McCall