Angus Gruzman, aka Dreems, the co-founder of Canadian, Montreal-based label, Multi Culti, assumes the alias, Angelo Cruzman, and teams up with the mysterious Jacoby for a 6-track mini-LP, titled In Your Mind. 

A collection of cute, kinda collaged compositions, it moves from the mellow to the mid-tempo, and manages to sneak in some sliced, diced, and reconstructed disco. Mixing party whistles, funky rhythm guitar with gente acid gurgles. The opening number, All Your Time, is super summery, birdsong-filled, and features a vocal sample that sounds like Billie Holiday doing her best Louis Armstrong. Muted and wah-wah-ed to make like Satchmo’s horn. Snatches of strings serenading congas and bucolically bouncing beats. Futuro Feminino’s backing singers bring a blissed-out Brazilian flavour. The strange, spoken, Acapellca, accompanied by abstract “ambient” electronics, recalls Laetitia Sadier and Stereolab. The closer, Out Of Your Mind, sets playful chimes and piano against pitter-pattering handclaps, more birdsong, plus backwards flute and 6-string picking. The title track, though, is the standout. Starting with seagulls, squawking and swooping, this looping, loved-up, lullaby incorporates laidback pedal steel licks, kalimba, and a children’s choir. The sanza’s calming clicking, and the kids’ chants and singing, giving the song more than a touch of the classic Cafe del Mar-s. Tapping into the happiness and innocence of seminal stuff like A Man Called Adam’s Estelle. 

Angelo Cruzman and Jacoby’s In Your Mind is out now on Multi Culti. A huge thank you to James Holroyd, aka Begin, for the heads-up.