Young Alaska sounds like it could have been released on Kompakt six years ago—and I mean that as a compliment. Fans of Superpitcher or Michael Mayer will hear lots of familiar elements in Löffler's music: the ambience, the clip-clopping minimal techno percussion, the shameless love of pop harmonies and vocals (supplied by Danish singer Gry and Me Succeeds' Mohna). Löffler's tracks crackle with static, but the production is surgically clean in a way that makes Young Alaska sound both futuristically glossy and as lonely as a distant space station.
Young Alaska is no radical departure from 2012's A Forest, but it would be churlish to complain when he's making music of such grace and emotive power. From the pagan folk-techno of "All Comes" via the sunrise wistfulness of "Veiled Grey" to the chiming, Pantha Du Prince-ish "Roman," this is an album that takes your heart in its hands and squeezes hard.