Waking up with András Fox

András Fox’s music brims with the promise of a new day. Melodic hooks flutter in through open windows between the stochastic rhythm sections, breathing air into the productions through synthesised woodwinds, while rubbery juno bass lines lazily loiter around your feet. The Australian producer’s beats journey from Disco to House taking a detour through eighties synth pop, arriving at your ears inconspicuously, but with intent. In some ways the dance constructions have some affinity with Brian Eno’s idea of music being both there and not at, but with András Fox there is a serious emphasis on fun in his music, made up of nineties synthesisers and jangling drum machines. His sound is one that first found its form with 2013’s critically acclaimed Erskine Falls EP, when András moved from sample based House edits of Daydreaming (his first mini album) into pure original synth territory in the spirit of the private-press artists of the eighties and the nineties.

The release arrived around the same time as Embassy Café, where he joined forces with Oscar Key Sung for some soulful electronica, with Oscar’s unique R&B vocal fitting Fox’s productions like a glove. It’s in that work where András first emerged as a producer with an immeasurable talent for crafting songs, hooking his audience on sweet melodies and infectious beats that mark a retro sensitivity without indulging nostalgic sentimentalities. It’s the only time he and Oscar have donned the producer cap together, but the mix of their combined creative output, is something that just clicks with Fox’s own artistic inclinations, making Embassy Café a clear stop on the path to Fox establishing a unique artistic voice.

In those two early releases Fox cemented his career and his sound, opting for the DIY aesthetic inspired by the musical garagistas of previous decades, with the advantage of internet distribution and Bandcamp helping him along the way. The voice of those early self-styled home-producers come through in spindly synthesisers and indolent drum machines, with András Fox transposing it for a contemporary audience, opting for a catchy hook or memorable bass line rather than the functional dance aspect. It’s music that’s unassuming, offering a backdrop to any situation rather than encouraging a particular one. His discography concludes today with Vibrate on Silent forging ahead in a sound that is exclusively András Fox. This latest EP spills over like a informercial on holistic healing, with organically crafted melodies cropping up through the synthesised pan flutes. There’s evidently also more of a focus on a continuous beat, but it’s charm lies specifically in its beatific sound palette, rooted in a very innocent sense of humour that comes across in his live shows.

András has played in Europe on several occasions in the past, but always in the role of a DJ, and it is only on his latest tour, that he’s left his DJ bag at home, to make room for a few synthesisers and a  drum machine. He follows Harvey Sutherland as the second Australian discoteer to join Jaeger in as many months and even though Ocar Key Sung will not be putting in an appearance alongside the artist on this occasion, we can expect a live set filled with the charm of retro synthesisers and inconspicuous beats.