The third and final instalment in the Sd trilogy, Loukeman’s latest album Sd-3, released in April, marries sugary hyperpop vocals with bouncy synths, fusing elements of electronic, pop and folk.
Since debuting with Sd-1 five years ago, Toronto-based Luke Fenton fashions a genre-bending world reflective of the innovation built into his music. There exists no set sequence of the album; all of the tracks serve as individual listening experiences, mirroring the absence of restriction at the heart of the project. Fenton himself expressed the wish for it to be a ‘mixtape [that’s] very rough around the edges’ (Music Radar, 2025). Yet, at the same time the songs fold into one another in a cyclical sort of way – provoking a sense of satisfaction mixed in with a simultaneous tinge of intrigue.
Buoyant drums and hyper-pitched vocals in Loukeman’s signature style carry us through the album, creating an equilibrium between club bounce and an ambient, soothing sound. There’s also an overarching tone of hopefulness embedded throughout. The flurried hi-hats in ‘To The Sky’ and the euphoric kicks behind ‘Baby Why’ reiterate Sd-3’s upbeat nature, with the latter edging close to happy hardcore, keeping in line with the album’s optimism.
More melancholic tracks are woven into the record as well – the solemn guitar of ‘It’s Gonna Keep On Raining’ reminds us of Loukeman’s multifarious production and the album’s refusal to sit within one singular category. Dreamy chord progressions in ‘John Bird Song’ underscore the emotionally reflective journey of the Sd series whilst the elongated but repetitive synths of ‘I Guess We Don’t Have A Choice’ mimic a sort of uncertainty of what’s coming next. However downtempo these elements of Sd-3 are, there is no sense of doubt poking through. Loukeman remains unapologetically unconventional in his production, only further building upon the eccentricity set up by his previous releases.
If Sd-1 and its submerged, house-y drums, were the introduction to Loukeman’s world, Sd-2 followed giddily in pursuit through its deeper subversion of musical norms. Sd-3 closes the series shrouded in hope and fully fleshed-out experimentalism, setting up a deep anticipation for whatever Loukeman has planned next.
Listen to Sd-3 below.