Mirrors

“I wanted to get back to raw emotionality for this record—to really figure out who I am as an artist and what my sound can be,” DJ and producer Armand Jakobsson, aka DJ Seinfeld, tells Apple Music. Coming to prominence as part of the playful lo-fi house scene that also birthed the likes of Ross From Friends, DJ BORING, and Mall Grab, Jakobsson released his debut LP, 2017’s *Time Spent Away From U*, to critical acclaim for its nuanced and deeply felt take on deep house compositions. For his second long-player, *Mirrors*, the introspection increases, bolstered by hundreds of hours spent honing his production skills. An amalgam of the Swedish producer’s varied influences, tracks range from the UK garage melancholy of “She Loves Me” to the anthemic synths of “Someday” and the chugging eternal crescendo of “Song for the Lonely”—and they’re all held together by a melodic touch that straddles the dance floor as much as private play. “This is a crossroad of sorts—a reflection of where I am, as well as where I’m going,” he says. Read on for Jakobsson’s thoughts on the album, track by track. **“She Loves Me” (feat. Stella Explorer)** “I wanted to write a track with a 2-step feel to it and at the time of making ‘She Loves Me,’ I was also listening to a lot of music by Little Dragon, especially their tune ‘Twice.’ I was thinking, ‘What would Todd Edwards sound like mixed with Little Dragon?’ Stella Explorer is on the vocals, and she had this beautiful interpretation of the theme of the track, which is when you’re in a relationship with someone and, suddenly, you feel this paranoia that they might lose their feelings for you. It’s probably my favorite song on the album.” **“Walking With Ur Smile”** “I’ve been very inspired by the recent UK garage revival, and I love the Korg M1 synth sound that populates those tracks, so I wanted to have hints of it throughout the record. For the vocal samples, I just found this random a cappella cover of an Anita Baker song on YouTube by an R&B group that only had around 300 views. It’s a goldmine—a beautiful vocal that I could write a thousand different melodies to.” **\"U Already Know” (feat. Teira)** “This references my recent EP releases and also nods to my Italo-disco influences. I wanted to release this as a single during the summer, in time for the festival season to be taking off again, since it’s a really happy track inspired by people like Todd Terje, and I hoped it would give listeners an optimistic lift when they heard it on the dance floor or in a field.” **“The Right Place” (feat. Teira)** “This was one of the first tracks I made for the album. It was extremely layered and intricate, since I wanted to make something that had a very obvious emotionality to it but that also referenced the atmospheres and textures that Four Tet has in his music. I met Teira after she booked me for a warehouse party she threw in LA, and we got along really well. When I told her I was starting work on this album, she began sending me vocals and we ended up with lots of different versions of the track. We went with this iteration in the end, because it treads the line between a pop and underground sound really well.” **“Home Calling”** “‘Home Calling’ was the last addition to the album. I worked through around 15 different drafts of the album in total, but this was submitted just before the final tracks were sent for mastering. It felt like the record needed an ambient interlude and, luckily, I had written this a while ago and it just fit perfectly. I’m happy that it’s there, as it acts like a break before the record builds up again to its closing tracks.” **“These Things Will Come to Be”** “This track is built around the same formula that was used a lot during the lo-fi era, where you would recontextualize a vocal sample in the midst of a track. It’s a really fun way to write, and so here I used a voice message I found online as the center around which the melodies are layered. It’s hopefully something that is upbeat but also works as a listening experience.” **“Tell Me One More Time”** “I wanted a track on the record that was aimed obviously for the dance floor and which would get straight to the point for listeners. When I’m writing, I’m essentially just sitting on my bed and working on the laptop all the time. I don’t really have a structure or process—I just make music whenever I feel inspired, and so ‘Tell Me One More Time’ is a snapshot of that feeling of wanting to make people move.” **“Someday”** “I rarely feel like I know how to make an anthemic, epic track, but this melody just came into my head and it had that feel to it, along with a breakbeat reference that was in the same vein as Orbital or Bicep. I’m really excited to see how dancers react to this when I play it out, since I haven’t had the chance to yet.” **“I Feel Better”** “I came across this vocal sample from an Italian artist who was a part of a remix competition I found online. There were lots of EDM remixes that were being submitted, but his voice and melody had quite a poppy feel to it, which appealed to me. I was on the verge of not putting this track on the record because it is such a deviation from what I usually make, but the people who were involved with the track selection convinced me to keep it and I’m really glad I did.” **“Song for the Lonely”** “This is the final crescendo of the record. It has a trudging, galloping momentum to it, since I wanted to make something quite epic to close out the album. The high-pitched vocal sample that I use has a Burial feel, and when I was writing the song, I just had an image of people in the club, losing it to this as the final track of the night, closing out the dance floor.”

On his first album in four years, the Swedish house producer strips away the hiss to zero in on floor-filling club tracks and big, universal emotions.

DJ Seinfeld first emerged in 2016 at the forefront of a wave of lo-fi house that seemed ironic on the surface but ended up producing some highly expressive music.

It’s unfortunate that DJ Seinfeld can’t make a tune without the L-word being mentioned. Yes, it was very much the stepping stone for the

This DJ Seinfeld album isn't just lo-fi – it's low on a lot of stuff. Mirrors is a disappointing return from the DIY house producer