A collaborative EP that first came out on January 1st through Dean Blunt’s YouTube channel and was put on streaming platforms later down the line, Elias Rønnenfelt naturally fits within Dean Blunt’s hazy production. Each song might last for a few minutes, yet its sharp marks still linger, with melodies varied enough to be worth looping around.

At first glance, it might not seem like Elias Rønnenfelt might nestle within Dean Blunt’s overall soundscape: misty and vapor sound palettes that could only work for the musicians crafting strung-out, doe-eyed songwriting and vocalizations out there, but Elias does manage to fit in just fine. The first instance of these two working comes through the song Smile Please, where shuffling acoustics give space for Rønnenfelt to air out his affection, coated with his raw vocal timbre.

Since putting out solo records starting last year, Rønnenfelt has only gotten more interested in tones that mangle the polish and turn them into all sorts of shaggy and hypnotic backdrops. The kind of sound that would eventually lead him to be in a song with Dean Blunt through Joanne Robertson – who was featured on Ronnenfelt’s debut album, Heavy Glory – and her 2024 record, ‘Backstage Raver’. Since then, Dean Blunt and Elias Rønnenfelt eventually pulled together ‘Lucre’ a year later, a collaborative EP that swarms around a gentle mist.

Mainly produced by Dean Blunt and Vegyn, they pull together strings of jangling, post-punk-oriented grooves that carry a foggy quality. Enough to situate Rønnenfelt’s solemn delivery and the fraught singer-songwriter poetry in the forefront. The thrumming bass and punchy percussion of “4” drive into striking lyricism. “All the choices that I really don’t know / Platitudes come schadenfreude / Staring at the wheel, tryna find a destination / Like you, like you”. It’s the state of Elias Rønnenfelt wandering for a clear direction, while stuck within Dean Blunt’s potent display of sifting atmospherics.

With each song lasting an average of 2 minutes, it is impressive how the trio manages to instil an immediate impression across the entire 7 brief tracks. “2” brings up glossy textures around gliding vocal punch-ins. “5” is slathered with guitar delays, brooding vocals, and keening synths that create a psychedelic spiral. “6” goes into a friendly jangle pop direction with a pedal steel on top of it.

The longest song, “7” ends the EP with a bittersweet tale. “Don’t ever come to fill my home / The streets light up against the needy, preach those matters / More and more, prowling with the all but dead”, Rønnenfelt sings as moody strings, shuddering guitars, and stumbling drums surround him. Accompanying him as he airs out his melancholic musings.

In short, ‘Lucre’ is an EP that simmers in Dean Blunt and Elias Rønnenfelt’s synchronized chemistry, where the former’s signature hypnotic palettes are a perfect fit for the latter’s emotive cadence and affecting poetry. Most of the EP’s material may immediately transition from one song to the next, yet it still carries a sense of charm within it. Brief, yet heady once you pay close attention, which makes you want to listen even more.

order Lucre HERE