Luomo made a grand appearance in the dance/pop scene back in 2003 with The Present Lover (his second album after 2000's Vocalcity). The Present Lover was quickly being referred to as music from a dance producer in love, the smooth ambient tracks, uplifting lyrics and a strong focus on vocals resulted in a warm welcome by both traditional pop lovers as well Dancehall addicts.

To Vlatislav Delay, aka Luomo, the new sound has been an exploration into the pop-world, although not aiming for the top radio charts or best ground moving dance-tracks. Luomo's sounds includes emotions, fragile and sensual sounds vocals by Johanna Iivanainen, a well-known Finish Jazz singer and long-time collaborator.

"To Vlatislav Delay, aka Luomo, the new sound has been an exploration into the pop-world,"

Now Luomo's back with new tracks in the tradition of The Present Lover, taking that sound further, exploring other possible interactions between dance, pop and jazz. Again accompanied by the ethereal vocals by Johanna, Luomo created Paper Tigers as an album on which one can roughly discover three musical subsets. Paper Tigers and Make Believe lean towards experimental ambient house. Both tracks are the most alternative ones on the album, playing with sound-scapes, dreamy sounds, echoing vocals, spooky clicks and bleeps. The tracks have been positioned as first (1) and last (9),creating a sense of opening and closure to the album.

Let You know and Good to Be With could just as easy have come from The Present Lover. Let You Know has a nice, driving beat, while Johanna's voice circles around, accompanied by electronic birds, chatting away in the distance. Good to Be With shares the vocal play from Let You know, but this time round the whole track has a much darker and gloomier feel to it, more suspenseful. On Wanna Tell and Really Don't Mind, Luomo uses an happy and echoing sound, creating a couple of "hyper-pop" tracks that could appeal to less adventurous among us.

"It's clear that Luomo's talents lay in combining and using vocals."

The Tease is Over, Cowgirls and Dirt Me are darker and more laid-back, as oppose to the uplifting happy sound and feel from the other tracks on the album.
The Tease Is Over is jazzy, lazy, sleepy. It has an almost Moloko-like acoustic feel to it, with a minimal base, piano samples, and, for Luomo, uncharacteristically clear lyrics. Cowgirls is unfortunately a rather uneventful instrumental track. Just a synth with some cracks, clicks and the occasional whiplash. It's clear that Luomo's talents lay in combining and using vocals. Dirt Me finally sounds very dirty bassy, with some really cool clicking samples, rattles, scratches, tin cans, etc. This to me is by far the most interesting track of the album, a little something for the more exquisite click n' beep enthusiasts.

All in all Paper Tigers is a nice easy-listening album, but not as original as The Present Lover. I did enjoy the jazzy laid back tracks on the album. Especially Dirt me and The Tease is Over have made it to my standard play-lists!

Track-list:

1. Paper Tigers
2. Really Don't Mind
3. Let You Know
4. The Tease Is Over
5. Cowgirls
6. Good To Be With
7. Dirt Me
8. Wanna Tell
9. Make Believe