Chameleonic

Ottawa's Chris Macintyre (aka Chameleonic) knows how to craft strong songs. In fact, he has an incredible sense of himself as a producer, particularly given that much of this debut album grew from improvisation. Like collaborator and fellow electronic producer/musician Eric Vani (aka Rise Ashen), Macintyre creates lush, warm electronic pieces and moves easily between tempos, flavours and sounds. One minute it recalls the Orb, the next it's thoughts of Jazzanova, Four Tet and LTJ Bukem. That said, Chameleonic stands firmly on his own, mainly due to a solid sense of melody and an obviously wicked ear for music. Hell, every song on Segments is hummable. Moving from the naked strings of "Pre-Embarkation" into the heavy down-tempo beats of "Exchanging Anatomy," Chameleonic already sets his own pace. When the beats drop, break and smoothly lead the piece into jazzy drum & bass territory, the deal is sealed. "Nova Berlin" is one for the Compost fans, opening with Rhodes over an electronic shuffle and getting funky with some Jimmy Smith keyboard flavour and sweet jazz guitar. Macintyre demonstrates that he's chosen his production moniker well, giving many surprises as he shifts smoothly within, as well as between, tracks. "Evening Soul" has a warm tech-y flavour, drifting and shifting as it melds nicely into the down-tempo electronic folk of "Do It Again," a rich, optimistic piece featuring the very promising vocals of 17-year-old Laura Thompson. With his Rhodes electric piano, beat programming skills and capabilities on numerous other instruments, Chameleonic is an electronic producer to watch real close. Three thumbs up.