Poetica

by

iiO

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New York Duo Iio (Markus Moser, Dj/Producer and Nadia Ali, vocals) has been around for something like 5 years now and had plenty of club hits like "Rapture" "At the End", "Kiss You" and "Smooth" but a album was never released until now the band decided to split up and the company put up all of their recorded song on one collection named "Poetica". The music is a mix of Club/Dance and well crafted Dance Pop with great melodies and hooks, Nadia Ali's voice is really seductive and perfectly suited for Iio and she simply makes any song interesting apart from a bunch of other colourless singers in this genre and Markus Moser has a sixth sense for great pop. Needless to say, if you liked their old singles you are going to like the rest of the album aswell. It follows the same path apart from 9 minute "Chastity" that is a non-commercial club song. Instead of going for singles, go for the album, 15 great dance-pop songs. Enjoy!.

Waiting half a decade after your first hit to finally deliver your debut album is sure to get fans annoyed, but in iio's case they've been smart enough to tide them over by releasing a string of tasteful singles along the way. It's a relief to have "Rapture", "At the End", "Runaway" and "Smooth" all in one place, but the problem with iio is certainly their failure to extend their musical boundaries. Each song follows the pattern of throbbing bass, an ambient-like groove and singer Nadia's enticing vocals. The formula works with individual club singles, but over the course of an entire LP it certainly wears thin. Still, the hypnotic hooks on "Rapture" are just as intoxicating five years later, and recent hits "Kiss You" and "Is It Love?" (the latter became the group's first No.1 on the US dance chart in 2006) continue the pulsing sound that has become iio's trademark. After such a long wait, "Poetica" does come across as a slight disappointment, but in terms of singles iio remains one of the more consistent acts in current dance music.