Audio Dope is Basel, Switzerland-based artist and producer who has featured once before on our blog. At the beginning of the year, I ran the rule over his collaboration with Noah Slee, Round & Round. The track features on his new album Gone which I’ve also given a spin.

By Graeme Smith

Feature photo by Flavio Karrer

International collaborations is something of a theme of this album. Alongside New Zealand-born Noah Slee, Audio Dope has also worked with fellow Basel-based Birdmask, American Rome Fortune, and Czech Emilia Anastazja to make this collection. Yet, what the album opens with is pure Audio Dope – the wonderfully soulful and textured instrumental Oyster Gone.

The aforementioned Round & Round comes next, an early focal point with its jazzy, percussive arrangement and Noah’s smooth vocals. Blind introduces mournful strings and laidback beat before Ghost rounds off the first part of the album. Featuring Emilia Anastazja on vocals, a beautifully stripped-back verse gives way to a rumbling, bass-heavy chorus.

Vernon Road keeps things chilled before we reach the album’s second focus track Honestly. Featuring Birdmask, it takes the album is a surprise indie pop direction, with gentle instrumentals and emotive vocals. It’s a highlight. Quartz is a lo-fi drum and bass wonder before True Love gives us hazy, romantic escapism.

Flowers, with Rome Fortune, takes us deeper into Audio Dope’s hip hop influences and has some beautifully poetic lyrics. Leyton Studios is a brooding yet quirky odyssey while Drunk is a short and woozy moment of soulful jazz. Glitter closes the album with a bright and twinkling lo-fi meditation.

Gone is an album that simply oozes with coolness. Audio Dope has taken his ’90s hip hop influences and made something truly fresh and modern out of them without losing their original spirit. Fans of Maribou State or James Blake will find a lot to love about Gone. You can check out the whole album below.