Sasu Ripatti (aka Vladislav Delay, Uusitalo) is the Finnish producer and head writer behind the project Luomo, his musical outfit that has redrawn the very boundaries of what "house music" can achieve. Convivial is his fourth album as Luomo. In addition to long-time collaborator Johanna Iivanainen, Convivial features a semi-underground star cast of collaborators such as Cassy, Sascha Ring (Apparat), Jake Shears (Scissor Sisters), Robert Owens, Sue-C and one anonymous singer who hides behind the name Chubbs. The album in question is not so much an assembly as a series of commentaries, interspersed with contemporaneous studio stylings and entries from travel diaries he kept while working on the album. For the first time there is a real collaboration with the singers; where he didn't write all the lyrics himself but left plenty of room for other lyrics and musical ideas. Cassy participates on a dancefloor-friendly song, while Sascha Ring makes a touching appearance singing a semi-ballad. Jake Shears adds a touch of glamour, while Sue-C takes lead vocals. Classic house vocalist Robert Owens gets a soul treatment, while Johanna Iivanainen vocalizes in experimental pop form. Aside from great production, the charm of listening to Luomo's music lies in his ability to put people at ease even when he doesn't share a common language or theme with them, with vocals becoming like instruments among synthesizers, effects and other machines. More than anything, his Kafka-esque productions come with a wonderful petulance that bring more depth and meaning to dance music in the bigger picture. The Luomo project is nothing less than a great tragedian, holding a mirror before a music society that sometimes would like to hear less stories. Nevertheless, he finds the dance music medium most suitable for his pop explorations, which has earned marked respect for its wide-ranging catalog of unique no-frills releases, with Convivial certainly being no exception.