CHASING KURT

Chasing Kurt are Pascal Blanché, Wojtek Kutschke and Lukas Poloczek: two longtime deep house lovers, plus one rogue funk ‘n soul man somehow swept up along the way. It can all be traced back to a fateful night in Giessen, Germany—where the boys call home. Like most modern day coincidental trysts, it took place in a bar: DJ spun long into the night, whilst barkeep kept the drinks flowing. As both wound up their respective shifts, barkeep let slip a vocal tune or two. DJ couldn’t help but notice. He invited barkeep back to a jam session; at a third’s humble home studio. Barkeep was delighted. Though house wasn’t really his thing he had been jamming and gigging for years, and accepted immediately. “Daydream” was the result: a lush, gentle, sultry little ballad—so good a brand new label was conceived for its release. Finally Wojtek and Pascal had found their missing link in Lukas’ lyrical touch. A poignant third dimension and invaluable human stamp that would continue to colour the nascent Chasing Kurt project on follow ups “Money” (featured in Maya Jane Cole’s widely touted DJ-Kicks mix) and “Into The City”, as well as a second outing on Carry On entitled ‘In The Air’ and this year’s single ‘One Day’. In a short space of time the trio has made long, arching strides in the climb up to a dance plinth of their very own, leaving warm, billowy, velveteen trails behind them saturated with Lukas’ soulful pop tones that has helped set Chasing Kurt apart from blancher contemporaries. ‘From The Inside’ is their debut full length, and first release for Berlin’s Suol Music institution that rolls out the troupe’s Spring and Summer-facing tropes just in time for the gloomy season’s thaw. Expect languid beats and hazy dancefloor-ready rhythms, matched beautifully all the while to seductive tales of love lives lost and battles fought and won, of rain and bows, woes and sorrows delivered with all the sincerity and residue of burning recollections still very much in tact. From uplifting moments like “Shine On Me” and loungier lull times as on “Running Searching”, to the achingly exposed “This Is My Religion” and sullen “Take Me Home”, ‘From The Inside’ traverses the emotive gamut with incomparable poise, sensitively balancing headiness with light, sparkly and fully floor-functioning shades to delivery a rounded, carefree dance record and enveloping listening experience in one.