Parisian Kuduro ambassador DJ Lycox kicks the club back to action with six killer, syncopated workouts on the indomitable Príncipe, swaggering between sultry and banging Afrohouse variations

As part of Tia Maria Produções and with his solo shots, DJ Lycox has been a vital player on Lisbon’s finest label since 2014. The ‘Lycoxera’ session leads on from the beatdown kizomba tempo of his ‘Kizas do Ly’ (2020) EP with a return to the quicker meter of his sought-after debut album ’Sonhos & Pesadelos’ (2017), giving the club what it needs as feet return to the ‘floor in late 2021 to dance their worries away.

Cherry-picked by the label from Lycox’s prolific studio output, the EP’s six tracks surely represent a clarion call to the rave, but finely balance a sense of urgency with more tentative, melancholic pathos that smartly reads the room. From its nervy but insistent opening vocal declaration of back to business on the ‘Eu Mbora Dou Bué Show’, thru the breezy lilt of his keys and quizzical top lines in ‘Momentos Unicos’ Lycox coaxes rather than demands, with deeply persuasive results.

The intricate beat science of ‘Rapaz Sinistro’ is bound to snag bodies in its swingeing syncopation of log drums and plucked bass motifs echoing Amapiano styles, while the haughty jack of ’Southside’ follows with immersive soundsphere of water sounds, trumpeting elephants and eagle squawks that transport the city to a jungle mindset. ‘Yoga’ is a standout 3 minutes of deep Afrohouse pressure, eazing tensely infectious drums with coolly poised chords, and ‘Wildin’ is the most concentrated, deeply technoid example of DJ Lycox’s urgent but furtive appeal on what is set to be a definitive solo EP.