Tow-headed heartthrob Tim Bergling, AKA Avicii, is back and better than ever with his just-released debut album, “True,” from Island Records. Back in March, Avicii shocked the EDM world when he announced that he would be focusing on fusing country, classical, R&B, folk, and bluegrass music into the generally-exclusive genre. “Folk is really stripped down and it’s not as complicated as a lot of other things, so to put a 4/4 beat under it and play around and add synths, it really wasn’t hard,” Avicii explained, “I never felt like I was forcing anything at all, it just felt completely natural, otherwise, I never would have done it.”

The opening track and first single, “Wake Me Up,” features soul singer Aloe Blacc and quickly shot to #1 thanks to it’s danceable beat and catchy chorus. Songs like “Hey Brother” and “Addicted To You” showed a softer side to the Swedish DJ, both riddled with complex guitars and thought-inducing lyrics. While Bergling certainly explores other kinds of music throughout the album, he makes sure to pay homage to the genre that made him a star, with EDM-bangers like the trance and dubstep-infused “Dear Boy,” which goes on for eight minutes, but somehow never manages to drag. He keeps the party going with one of my personal favorites, the tailor-made club track “Lay Me Down,” which has an unexpected – but surprisingly very welcome – infusion of disco and funk.

“True” not only proves that literally any number of genres can be tastefully mixed, but that we should embrace doing so. Well done, Avicii, you can officially do no wrong. “True” is out now worldwide!

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