Before hitting the serious airwaves, I was able to take a good listen to one of the early demos of Alchem. When I say early, I mean way back when this Swedish duo didn’t even know what to name themselves. Eventually, they came to an agreement, just in time for their debut release of Gleam via The Brio Life. This EP marks their first step into developing themselves into polished producers. Given that this is their very first release, we didn’t really know what to expect.
The floodgates open in slowly in the first ambient minute of the opening song. It immediately sets the mood of the EP and clues us in about Alchem’s style and sound. What exactly is their style and sound? It’s a mix of electronic chillwave with experimental ambient. Each individual tune has an organic structure and feel to them. They engineer a space around your mind while it flexes unique ways of stimulating your ears. The silverware clanking in the opening seconds of “It’s Alright” really hits the spot while the echoing percussion of “Never Do” smoothly yet elegantly keeps the ambiance in tempo. Stream below to have your eardrums kidnapped by this Stockholm-based duo.