Jennifur - MAZDA [Review]

About Jennifur

Jennifur is a youngish, I guess, Brussels-based producer, DJ and community-minded audiovisual-label-event-project co-founder, known as Hector Devriendt in family circles. With no musical upbringing, except for some siblings with decent taste, he was introduced to the world of Ableton music software as a teenager and has been making rapid progress since. Youthful energy and good vibes abound on all three of his albums. In 2022 he somehow managed to snag some soundtrack work for the Shredder’s snowboard video game, which turned into his debut album, and Nowhere, Now Here is a really solid, feel-good slice of twentieth-century nodding, new millennium house and electronica, and unsurprisingly the association was a serious springboard up the musical food chain. He followed that up with the liquid d&b-heavy Things Don’t Change Until They Do a year later, where he first started dabbling with vocals whilst keeping the party smiling and rolling.

Review

Which brings us to 2026 and his MAZDA album. He’s spent the last three years working on his musician-incorporating live show - wise move as there’s no live gig as dull as a man with a laptop, a few boxes and too many cables, and working out how to connect some live vibes and his indie-rock and pop influences with his love of electronic music, and damn me, he’s nailed it.

I was immediately struck by the album’s fusion of feel-good, yes familiar, but perfectly fused pop-rock-dance fusions. ‘From A to B’ gets the ball rolling, an uplifting, teasing pop progression that never progresses, but sets the tone perfectly for what’s to come. The album then erupts with the hoover bassline-anchored helium vocals and indie-rock guitars of ‘This Is Not What We Came For’, and we’re off. ‘How to Offer a Hand to Hold’ gives 80s synth pop a 2026 dance music kick up its black jean-clad arse, before ‘I Need You to Hold On’ keeps the tempo high with its blend of footwork, d&b and 90s trance. 

‘From The Sideline’ drops the tempo and ups the guitars for some deadpan vocal led, heads-down stare at your pedals, indie-guitar-infused downtempo for all the sad kids, before ‘I Need You By My Side’ remembers that the album’s point was to soundtrack youth-led festivals for the next few years, which he probably will; the lad’s got a way with anthemic crowd-pleasers. ‘In The Sun’ then goes all jangly, ‘Dancin’ Around’ throws in some melancholic urban flavour, and there’s even an ambient outro.

I almost didn’t review this as it sounds a bit poppy and overly familiar, and tracks will probably be used in Vodafone adverts showing people having the time of their lives until 2030, but it’s such a well-realised electronic indie-pop fusion and the kids deserve some fun before life wears them down, so here it is. I’m filing it under guilty pleasures.

If you want some more lively dance-pop flavours, then check out Bookend's Hi, hi not goodbye release.

This review ran in TSMM's October 18h newsletter. If you'd like album tips direct to your inbox or the Substack app — plus the odd bit of industry insight and existential musing from TSMM HQ — you can subscribe here.

---

Playlist Companion