When we interviewed Steve Angello last summer—before he began his residency at Omnia—the former Swedish House Mafia DJ and producer discussed the new sound he was pursuing through his solo album Wild Youth. “I want to create something timeless and mature and something that speaks to my musical integrity based on what I appreciate and like,” he said.
When Wild Youth was finally released in late January, Rolling Stone called it “surprisingly rich and varied.” After global mega-hits like “Leave the World Behind” and “Don’t You Worry Child,” it was almost as if the world didn’t expect Angello to go in different sonic directions. But he has, using melody more assertively and with infectious results, as on “Children of the Wild.” Wild Youth is stacked with the big-room builds and high drama that have come to define the current EDM sound, but Angello builds everything around warm, almost poppy song structures, and freely experiments with diverse influences on moody tracks like “The Ocean” and “Rebel Nation.”
As he pushed the SHM sound to the forefront, Angello is once again changing the way our parties sound, in Las Vegas and beyond. Steve Angello at Omnia at Caesars Palace, March 19.
