Musicians nowadays have to work with very fine margins. Do something that’s too wild and you lose the public attention, but do something too familiar and you’re branded as being unoriginal. Work on constantly expanding your musical vocabulary, and you risk alienating your audience, but, instead, play the same old material all the time and risk losing your passion.
I’ve recently reviewed Melodiva’s recent collection of songs and was struck by the seeming spontaneity of their ideas, and the way that they are blended to pleasant, easy-on-the-ears dream pop motifs.
But why does it all have to stop once a chorus has been written, recorded and has gone up in the cloud for the world to stream? Why can’t music, even modern pop songs, be something that’s in ever-changing form, that the artists rediscover frequently?
This is what Melodiva’s duo of musicians attempt to do for “Landscapes | Reimagined,” a collection that, as the name suggests, reassembles and designs the group’s 2025 indie-pop record.
Just how wild and out there does the band allow itself to go? Fans of the group will be happy to know that, for the most part, the song features welcome danceable grooves and electronic textures, but maintains the general air of friendliness of the lead vocals and melodies, a trademark of the group.
That’s how “No Exceptions – Reimagined” gets a krautrock-meets-90s-electronica beat that makes the whimsical vocals sound like they’re floating over endless chugging railroad tracks.
Meanwhile, “Sinner,” featuring Hiroki Grin, an exercise in modern minimalism and an intriguingly designed mix, feels as warm as a hot beverage consumed at the height of a blistering December. The more you fade into the sound, the further away the reality of the world is moved.
The collections also include two full-blown remixes and a live take. Both are constructed to maintain the chilled-out vibe of the EP and, thankfully, all continue to emphasise the band’s gift for writing sweet, memorable melodies. Both electro mixes of “Nirvana” and “Questions” have that sweet, shimmering, repetitive quality that will make fans of the group want to include them on the playlists designed for coffee and morning relaxation.
Where does this leave us? In Melodiva’s case, cutting things up, putting them back together again, and keeping the musical ideas breathing. The live in the studio rendition of “Her Music” allows Melodiva to better examine the natural dynamics of the song.
“Landscapes | Reimagined” allows Melodiva to further test the band’s musical ideas, and the duo will find it fortunate to find out that they were right to follow their initial instincts all along.
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