Lane 8 – Rise [Album Review]

words by Jacqui Wonder

The upcoming Anjunadeep release from Lane 8 ranges from more underground tunes like ‘Klara’ and ‘Rise’ (typical of the label), to the more poppier, vocal-driven house anthems like ‘Loving You’, ‘Diamonds’ and ‘Undercover’. Maybe I’m just being indecisive but it’s hard to say which I prefer more, even harder to pin down exactly Lane 8‘s secret sauce to maintaining a cohesive sound as he produces such distinct tracks.

For instance – ‘Cosi’ and ‘Hot as You Want’ are similarly wandering, expansive tracks, glittery, explorative synth is the special sauce, but one comes at you with a characteristically underground, production driven sound, and the other a poppier, understated vocal courtesy of Solomon Grey (also featured on ‘Diamonds’).

The vocals across the whole album are a treat with Lulu James on the previously mentioned ‘Loving You’, Patrick Baker on ‘Ghosts’, Ara Scott on sweet, silky tune ‘The Great Divide’, and an acid stag favourite Matthew Dear behind the mic on recently released single ‘Undercover’.

Something that stands apart about this release is when you’re listening to it, you’re not weary of any trends it’s trying to follow, you know – whatever sound is popular right now that immediately gets flooded by countless tracks cashing in on that same new sound. Rise could be as relevant in clubs and on your mini hi-fi ten-fifteen years ago as it is today and will be in ten years time on your cloud-synced headphones.

Call me a traditionalist but one of the reasons I was stoked about Rise landing in my inbox was the fact that it’s a full length album; Lane 8 has put in the time, honed this release, and produced 10 tracks that are tied by a signature, underground sound at the same time as standing apart to ensure the album has momentum and a story.

Rise will be released on 17 July via Anjunadeep, and if you pre-order the album now from iTunes you’ll receive ‘Ghost’ feat. Patrick Baker as an instant grat download.

Rating: ★★★★

    

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