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**Galantis - Pharmacy ★★★★☆**

When Christian Karlsson hung up his Miike Snow hat and joined forces with Linus Eklöw in 2013, few could have predicted that their Swedish electronic duo Galantis would become the sonic architects of euphoria itself. *Pharmacy*, their debut full-length offering, arrives as a meticulously crafted prescription for the dance music doldrums, dispensing twelve doses of pure synthetic bliss that feel both intimately personal and stadium-sized in scope.

The genesis of *Pharmacy* can be traced back to the pair's early collaborations in Stockholm's fertile electronic underground, where Karlsson's pop sensibilities—honed through years of crafting hooks for everyone from Britney Spears to Madonna—collided beautifully with Eklöw's more experimental tendencies. Their breakthrough single "Runaway (U & I)" had already conquered festival fields across the globe by the time they entered the studio to craft this collection, setting impossibly high expectations for what would follow.

What emerges is an album that sits comfortably within the progressive house tradition while pushing against its boundaries with an almost reckless abandon. Galantis have created their own micro-genre here—call it "emotional maximalism"—where soaring synthesizer arpeggios carry the weight of genuine human feeling, and every drop feels like a small revelation rather than mere sonic manipulation.

The album's opening salvo, "Runaway (U & I)," remains its most potent weapon. Built around a deceptively simple vocal hook that burrows deep into the brain's pleasure centers, it's a masterclass in tension and release that transforms a straightforward love song into something approaching transcendence. The track's genius lies in its restraint—where lesser producers might have buried the melody under layers of unnecessary ornamentation, Galantis allow space for the emotion to breathe.

"Gold Dust" follows as the album's most adventurous moment, marrying organic instrumentation with digital manipulation in ways that feel genuinely innovative. The track builds from whispered vocals and delicate piano into a full-throttle celebration that somehow never loses its sense of intimacy. It's here that the duo's pop instincts serve them best, crafting verses that feel like confessions and choruses that demand communal singing.

The title track "Pharmacy" itself serves as the album's mission statement, a six-minute journey through pulsing basslines and cascading melodies that justifies every second of its extended runtime. There's something almost narcotic about its hypnotic progression, each element carefully measured and administered for maximum impact. When the final breakdown arrives, it feels less like a conclusion than a gentle comedown from an intense high.

"Peanut Butter Jelly" provides the album's most overtly playful moment, built around a vocal sample that should feel ridiculous but instead becomes genuinely infectious. It's a testament to Galantis's production skills that they can take such seemingly frivolous source material and transform it into something approaching art. The track's success lies in its commitment to its own absurdity—there's no winking at the audience, just pure joy translated into electronic form.

Less successful are moments like "Louder, Harder, Better," where the duo's maximalist tendencies occasionally overwhelm their melodic gifts. The track feels like an attempt to out-festival the festival circuit, piling on layers of intensity without the emotional foundation that makes their best work so compelling. It's not bad, exactly, but it suggests what Galantis might sound like if they lost sight of their essential humanity.

The album's closing stretch, anchored by the gorgeous "Help" and the appropriately titled "Smile," finds the duo at their most emotionally direct. These tracks strip away some of the production excess to focus on the raw feelings underneath, revealing the beating heart that drives their entire enterprise.

*Pharmacy* established Galantis as more than just another Swedish house export—they emerged as genuine emotion merchants, capable of transforming the most basic human feelings into something approaching the sublime. The album's influence can be heard throughout contemporary electronic music, from the bedroom producer uploading tracks to SoundCloud to the main stage headliners commanding festival crowds worldwide.

Nearly a decade later, *Pharmacy* endures as both a perfect encapsulation of mid-2010s electronic optimism and a timeless collection of songs that transcend their genre constraints. It's music for the moment when the sun rises over the festival grounds and everything feels possible—pure pharmaceutical-grade