On Living In A Haze, Milky Chance refine their breezy sound

The German group have had a fairly prolific output; Living In A Haze is their sixth offering, from their “Stolen Dance” days and Sadnecessary all the way to present day, and they’ve maintained their sound without ever getting stale. ”Favourite Song” and it’s jaunty, indie-pop hook, could be straight out of the earlier 2000s, meanwhile “Like A Clown” taps into that same jangly tone but drops in a little moodiness for variety. It’s testament, certainly, to how timeless their light-as-air, effortlessly cool sound really is, that we’re just really happy to be hearing more of it.

Their growth and experience, though, shines through. When you have such a refined sound, introducing new elements can be tricky – why upset the balance of a formula that works? But Milky Chance have their atmosphere nailed; in crafting Living In A Haze, they look at each individual element of their formula and see what they can polish up, what they can do more, what they can tweak.

And then, they know where there’s room in the puzzle for something new – “Purple Tiger,” on the surface, is quintessential Milky Chance, replete with groovy little riffs and a light-as-air aura, but within its intricacies lie a handful of more vivid, club-pop sensibilities than you’d expect. The duo also enlist Malian vocalist Fatoumata Diawara for to bolster the eerie intrigue of “Flicker In The Dark,” seamlessly evoking the tentative process of commitment with her velvety versatility. It’s an inventive, gorgeous feature, as is Charlotte Cardin’s ethereal, end-credits appearance on “History of Yesterday.”

Somehow, Milky Chance have managed to create a record that is both their most earthy, most ready for long indulgent al fresco afternoons, all while being their most electronically switched on. It’s entertaining, emotive, and a credit to their enduring appeal.