The last time we caught up with Tony Lionni he was busy mining an idealized past of Detroit techno for Keith Worthy's Aesthetic Audio. For his first EP of 2009, he's doing much the same for Japan's Mule Musiq imprint. "Sundance" drags two synths ever upward with a matching piano coming along for the ride while a beat plys its trade unobtrusively in the background and an uncredited female vocalist issues sweet nothings about "feelings" and "light." Needless to say, it's hugely clichéd. And hugely brilliant.
"Satya" drives a lengthy synth line through the center of its track, providing a base upon which a squelchy melody makes its mark for five of its seven minutes. Once again, it's as though we've heard this song long before (even though Lionni makes it sound decidedly fresh), until Lionni strips things out and takes the kick to the offbeat—subtly changing the tenor of the song and unleashing a desperate race to the finish.
After the masterpiece that is the A side, the flip can hardly live up to heightened expectations. "Cloudy" stands in place for four minutes before going for cosmic disco glory and failing in boring fashion, while "Divine Being" is a little bit too rounded in its edges. Although it seems to be the hit amongst DJs, listening to it from home reveals it to be stalking frighteningly close to electro house. That Lionni doesn't quite get there is a testament to his taste, of course, but the fact that he even gets within spitting distance also means that this young talent still has room to grow.
Published /
Fri, 13 Mar 2009
Buy Tony Lionni - Sundance at
Tracklist: Tony Lionni - Sundance
 A1 Sundance
A2 Satya
B1 Cloudy
B2 Divine Being | 
