Sub Focus reaches right into a stratosphere properly past the dancefloor on Contact, a 14-track album formed round humanity’s long-standing urge to ship messages into the unknown.
Influenced by the Voyager mission and the Golden Report, the drum & bass famous person constructed a physique of labor that feels expansive however nonetheless tightly engineered, connecting calls into the void together with his signature sound. Throughout his fourth album, he builds a universe that pushes drum & bass right into a wider constellation of sounds, arriving as one in every of his most cohesive and impressive initiatives to this point.
Contact, he mentioned, is an ode to the drum & bass style.
“I’m actually pleased with this one,” Sub Focus wrote in a social media put up. “Drum & Bass is in such impolite well being proper now – and I needed to make a full size all in regards to the style this time round.”
Contact opens with “Ecuador,” an unexpectedly shiny lower with Fireboy DML. The lyric “I’m in outer area, not right here anymore” serves as a transparent launch pad for the album’s idea, a quick and agile introduction that units the tone for the journey forward.
“So Many Colors” follows as Poppy Baskcomb’s voice climbs over a luminous development, pushed ahead by a pulsing low finish. “Unique Don” then marks the primary actual plunge into darker terrain. Fireboy DML and Irah steer the observe with sharp vocal phrasing whereas Sub Focus builds a dense, heavy basis beneath. It’s a observe clearly constructed for enormous techniques, the sort meant to shake a pageant stage.
“Elevate” then arrives as a launch valve, touchdown with a lighter contact and a refrain meant for feel-good crowd moments. The power remains to be excessive, however the observe provides sufficient elevate to interrupt up the album’s early depth.
That distinction makes “Entwined” hit even tougher. The high-profile collaboration with Grimes shifts the album’s cosmic theme into clearer focus. Her voice drifts in like a sign chopping by static earlier than the manufacturing accelerates, shifting into one thing colder and echoing the album’s fascination with area and the unknown.
“On & On” brings in bbyclose, who leans right into a shiny vocal tone over rapid-fire manufacturing that by no means loses its grip. Sub Focus punctuates the association with transient reprieves that permit her voice breathe for a second earlier than snapping the tempo again into movement. It’s one of many album’s standouts and one of many 12 months’s greatest drum & bass information.
“Go Again,” launched final 12 months alongside John Summit and Julia Church, stays the album’s clearest crossover second. Summit’s home roots form the primary half earlier than Sub Focus pulls the observe right into a drum & bass sequence that feels each weightless and easy. Church’s vocal carries the emotional weight, and the tempo shift stays one of many collaboration’s strongest parts.
“Water & Hearth” with Connie Constance shifts right into a extra atmospheric area, opening with ethereal vocals earlier than the drums take form. The manufacturing sparkles with refined particulars that preserve the whole lot in movement with out overcrowding the association. “Misplaced in Heaven,” the album’s sole downtempo second, offers Emily Makis room to stretch right into a smoother, softer supply. It features because the album’s breath earlier than the ultimate climb.
“Push the Tempo” and “Let Your Physique Rock” reignite the power, the previous touchdown as a club-minded lower with sharp phrasing from Katy B and the latter appearing as a full-throttle dash designed for the massive levels Sub Focus now instructions.
“Wildfire” brings one of many strongest vocal performances on the album, with Jo Hill chopping by the manufacturing’s tightly wound power earlier than the album closes by advantage of “Fade,” an atmospheric observe that swells slowly earlier than erupting right into a rush of frenetic drums. Inéz’s voice grows from restrained to totally launched, pulling the album right into a remaining emotional peak earlier than the power burns off.
You possibly can hearken to Contact under and discover the brand new album on streaming platforms right here.
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