Now and then on Tempo, one can catch a glimpse of Olga Bell's schooling as a composer. It's heard in the tracks' intricate details, or how she meticulously hones the grain of her grooves until it's just right.
The Russian in Bell's background dominated her last album (Krai); here she returns to the electropop and eclectic music shapings that peppered her Diamonite debut.
Moreover, there was also a bundle of research done at New York club nights featuring DJs such as Francois Kervorkian. The deep, hypnotic rhythms throughout Tempo certainly owe some of their lustre to that spell of dancefloor mining, as well as Bell's fascination with drag-ball culture and Paris Is Burning.
Between the lean, infectious, jittery musical fixings and Bell’s vocal rinsings lies an album that makes all the right moves.
