Adventure (Deluxe)

With Adventure, Madeon's debut LP, the producer presents a strikingly versatile collection. In a landscape filled with hot-on-paper-but-kinda-"eh" collaborations between big name vocalists and hip producers, Madeon deploys his guests (Passion Pit, R&B singer Kyan, Bastille frontman Dan Smith) with a stirring effectiveness. Album highlight "Pay No Mind" weaponizes Passion Pit's bright synth-pop for a stadium anthem, and the warmth of "La Lune" recalls a more laidback version of Bastille's catchy hit "Pompeii". On tracks like "OK"-which features a Charli XCX sample culled from a scrapped collaboration-and "Pixel Empire", Madeon pays homage to 8-bit video game soundtracks, reminiscent of Rustie's Essential Mix and the incomparable (yes, incomparable) "Donkey Kong Country" soundtrack all at once. While Adventure carries all the hallmarks of your usual skyscraping EDM release-stomping breakdowns, soaring choruses, maximalism-for-the-sake-of-it-it also straddles a fine balance between being a pop record and being a dance record. - Pitchfork