Stockholm Marathon CD

Last year Kornel Kovacs returned to his "beautiful, boring" home city of Stockholm, citing a need for both "friends and inspiration". Duly settled in his old apartment, the Studio Barnhus co-founder surrounded himself with collaborators (primarily Matt Karmil, jazz musician Niclas Skagstedt and female vocal duo Rebecca and Fiona) and set to work on his second album, "Stockholm Marathon". The resultant set is impressive, with Kovacs offering up a range of ear-catching vocal and instrumental tracks that brilliantly fuse elements of spacey deep house, mutant R&B, leftfield synth-pop, lo-fi electro, tech-jazz and glassy-eyed electronica. More often than not the collaborations with Rebecca & Fiona hit the mark (see "Club Notes", "Purple Skies" and "Marathon"), but there are plenty of other highlights elsewhere on the album.