<\/p>\n
In a world geared towards the instant, addictive buzz of easy dopamine hits, it often feels like the boldest thing you can do is create something that builds, takes its time. Of course, there\u2019s much less risk to that when you\u2019re a pop superstar formerly part of the biggest British boyband of all time<\/a> and still capable of selling out multiple nights at stadiums<\/a> around the world. But don\u2019t let that diminish what Harry Styles<\/a> lets bloom on \u2018Aperture\u2019, the first track taken from his upcoming fourth album, \u2018Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s taken four years for Styles to share new music with us, and here, he makes the most of our attention. \u2018Aperture\u2019 is an exercise in letting things grow \u2013 a gradual lift that, over five minutes, gently reels you in with layers that ebb and flow, swell and subside in just the right moments. It\u2019s dancefloor-ready \u2013 not for a short, sharp burst of movement, but a measured marathon night out.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also Styles as we\u2019ve not heard him before. Rather than the loosely retro pop-rock of \u2018Harry\u2019s House\u2019<\/a> or the grand theatrics of ballads like \u2018Sign Of The Times\u2019<\/a>, the star heads in the direction of electronic<\/a> music. \u2018Aperture\u2019 is propelled by a lightly thumping beat that\u2019s made more or less euphoric by the stabs of house piano that dip in and out, the jittery blasts of distorted fuzz, and the 31-year-old\u2019s resonant delivery in the chorus: \u201cWe belong together<\/em>\u201d. Add in a series of drawn-out, droning chords and it\u2019s (likely) as close as we\u2019re going to get to Styles fronting LCD Soundsystem<\/a>.<\/p>\n