Lac Seul

(This article’s English version was produced with AI-assisted translation)

Outsider house, or lo-fi house if you prefer, is one of those phenomena that sprouted in the undergrowth of 2010s clubbing, only to quietly fade away with the turn of the decade. Or at least, that’s what we thought. Its alchemy boils down to a few elements: the mechanical pulse of 4/4 intersects with vaporwave coordinates, yielding a nostalgic, tactile, and at the same time liquid sound—raw yet luminous ("Under The Wing Of Time"). It’s a style that found its natural habitat on the web: YouTube channels with glitchy aesthetics, vintage VHS commercials framing tracks that evoke the ’90s with a fresh patina, reshaping house as a domestic ritual rather than a tribal dance for the club.

As the decade turned, most outsider activity seemed to dissolve, morphing into new electro and breakbeat mutations. Lac Seul’s return is a precious drift along the blurred boundary between dreamlike atmospheres and nostalgia ("Divine Light"), but also an act of expressive awareness that distances itself from the rawness of L.I.E.S.—a key label for the genre—in favor of a more meditative, atmospheric aesthetic ("Floating Figure"). Elegant in its dialogue between lo-fi and ambient house, "Destinations" marks the fourth chapter in the discography of the U.S. duo composed of Tile Plazas and Jarred Carrigan, the latter also co-founder of Jungle Gym Records, a label that has shaped a sound suspended between ambient-club rituals and new-age mysticism.

The work itself doesn’t open up new horizons in the duo’s universe, but it does redefine their vocabulary, leaving behind the downtempo whispers and dub techno shadings of their early releases. It’s a strategic renunciation in favour of a stripped-down aesthetic, yet one that remains attentive to tonal detail. "Destinations" marks a new point of arrival for a project that knows its own breath: as in the title track, the beat programming is set within graceful, hypnotic grooves. The listening experience flows like a gentle stream, and dwelling on the album’s lack of incisiveness would be beside the point.

09/03/2025