Album covers can hold higher, non-decorative meaning, serving as windows into a record's sound. Applying this lens to Kingdoms, Mike Norris' 2012 full-length debut as Fort Romeau, yields an accurate portrait of the music it contained-- a set of glamorous, stylish house lent a human touch by skillful deployment of vocal samples. But it was the cover's monochromatic nature, and not the gigantic diamond or plump set of lips, that worked as the greatest link between imagery and sound: Kingdomswas a package of variations on a theme, each track a permutation of Norris' lush, ultra-melodic vocal dance music.
Looking at his set of 2013 releases that followed, including the singles SW9 and Jetée/Desire, the differences are striking: the muted tones and symbols of wealth and gloss have been thrown out the window for oily splashes of rich color and crude, swirling spray. These aesthetic choices mirror Norris' experimentation with new tones and textures, and his new EP Stay/Trueis the fullest document of that experimentation thus far, a five-track collection balancing the new murk and sprawl with melodic populism.
The flag-bearer for said murk and sprawl is the quasi-title track "Stay True", a seven-minute piece that unfolds slowly and deliberately rather than immediately exploding into ecstatic territory. Built around an arpeggiated synth spine and a shifting tapestry of hand-claps, "Stay True" eschews a single, sustained peak for something like a sine wave: it never quite reaches a euphoric climax, but rewards patience in its slow development. It's quite unlike anything onKingdoms. Subsequent track "Your Light" opts for instant engagement, but still surprises, its distant, ghost-in-the-machine beat springing to life with an analog crackle. Instead of opting for his standard sampling, Norris lays down a vocoder-affected vocal that ripples through the song like a ribbon of caramel through a carton of chocolate ice cream.
The EP's closer, "Together," splits the difference between those two tracks-- warbling tones inhabiting a region between synth and vocal hang and drift over an ominous, patchy chug built on a field recording. Norris also uses Stay/Trueto play with the EP's very structure, reserving one track for analog release and another for digital release. The former, "Trust Me", is a traditionalist slice of soaring disco that bubbles and throbs around club queen hoots; the latter, "And Now", rises from forest floor roots into a straightforward dance-ready pulse augmented by twilit clicks and chirps.
Each song mentioned above is tightly composed and endlessly replayable, but they fail to address the issue lying at the heart ofStay/True: for all his skill, Norris has yet to define a truly distinct voice. BothKingdomsand this EP are shot through with his appreciation for classic house, and they're undeniably confident and comfortable; unfortunately, coasting on comfort for too long tends to relegate artists to the middle of the pack. The small steps on Stay/Trueare steps in the right direction, and his recent departure from a touring/session role with synth-pop duo La Roux to focus on Fort Romeau heralds a new depth of focus on the project. If Norris can continue the growth suggested on this stopgap release, his next effort could lift him to a new level of success.
