Toronto's treasured electronica maestro, Alt Altman (aka Digits) has made waves on home turf and abroad, with icy synth hits such as "Lost Dream" and "Love Is Only Affection." It's been a fair while since his last official album, so a new EP was due, but the uncharacteristically sunny and incandescently happy "When You Look Inside" threw everyone, myself included, for a loop.
Its production is not Altman's tightest and its relatively simple, no-frills accompaniment makes "When You Look Inside" prone to genre-lumping. Into the dream pop pool, at that. But perhaps we're just cainotophobic, because sunsoaked Digits isn't half-bad. Amid the forthright lyrics and the uplifting broken chords, is this ice king thawing? How unexpected.
The remaining three-quarters of The Day You Look Back is available June 10th. Digits appears Thursday night at Toronto's Adelaide Hall, and then embarks on a brief Canadian tour with St. Vincent.