Virgin Vinyl & CDs

Review: French tropical house duo Polo & Pan return with another playful, transportive record, their third album, fusing their love of storytelling with a finely tuned sense of groove. Having cut their teeth as residents at Paris' Le Baron, the duoiPaul Armand-Delille and Alexandre Grynszpanihave built a world where fantasy meets the dancefloor, balancing carefree melodies with precise, spellbinding cadences. Their latest offering moves between daydream and dance, from the delicate charm of 'The Piano and The Violin' to the low-slung pulse of 'Disco Nap' featuring Metronomy. 'Petite Etoile' with Beth Ditto introduces a bold, cinematic energy, while 'A Different Side of Us' featuring PawPaw Rod leans into hazy, after-hours territory. 'Bluetopia' with Kids Return and 'La Nuit' featuring Arthur Teboul close things out with a reflective, late-night glow. It's another confident stride forward from a duo whose music feels both effortless and meticulously crafted.

Review: Two of life's great escape artists, Polo & Pan, or Paul Armand-Delille and Alexandre Grynszpan, first bonded in the chronological hinterland of nightlife's operating hours, at the iconic Parisian nightclub, Le Baron. We weren't there, but in our minds they talked about quantum theories, and maybe came up with the phrase "everything everywhere all at once". But nobody can be sure. Apart from the artists. Since then, they've committed themselves to creating beautiful, weird, tropical house-synth-pop-electronica stuff which they say transcends moments and places, people and cultures. 22:22 is their triumphant return after four years without a full length, and it's every bit as good as fans were hoping for. Dive in, the water is lovely - wherever in the time-space continuum it is.