When you reach the level of critical success that São Paulo, Brazil’s Gui Boratto achieved for his debut album, Chromophobia, it’s typically difficult to prepare for a follow-up.
With such high expectations, so many things run through an artist’s head and it can be maddening. Fortunately for Boratto, he lives thousands of miles away from the influence of any techno hot spot and never wrote music for anyone but himself in the first place. The melodies that made Boratto a success on his bow are back on Take My Breath Away and he hasn’t skipped a beat. The formula is simple: splash a light but throbbing 4/4 beat on heavy drones and melodies. The title track is all instrumental, but Boratto’s skill takes this to another place and gives the listener the feeling of a structured song with a definite beginning, middle and end. It’s all very emotional techno. “Atomic Soda” is one of the clear club tracks packed with intense one-two punches of beats and drones before the elegant and dreamy “Colors” floats by on a powdery cloud. The aptly titled “Opus” is just that, while the Boratto’s pop influence blossoms with help from Boratto’s wife, Luciana Villanova, on “No Turning Back.” With Take My Breath Away, Boratto once again takes techno into places that are new and exciting but not too niche-centric for its own good.
Justin Kleinfeld
File under: Lindstrøm, Nathan Fake, Sascha Funke