Posted by It’s often said that music becomes important to you because it speaks to you on a personal level. It chimes with something in your make up, as if it has known you for the longest time. In some instances, this familiarity causes reflection, a chance to look back at a particular time and place, channeling all manner of emotions that surround those memories.
Music that causes you to reflect on life as it once was is especially timely after the annus horribilis we have just endured, and if you’d asked a year ago whether it was possible for an album like ‘Isles’ to chime in such a deep way with anyone, you’d likely have been laughed out of the room. But, the club-ready bangers that it opens with, and the made-for-the-after-party mixes that dominate its second half catch the listener feeling oddly nostalgic for those hazy nights spent amidst sweaty strangers in a sticky-floored nightclub, bathed in LED lasers, bobbing to the rhythms that engulf you.
It’s a brilliant pick me up, a dazzling set of songs that tap into our innermost impulses. A colourful way to remember those good times, and one that is perfectly prepared for our eventual return to the dance floor.
8/10
Dig This? Dig Deeper: Bonobo, Joey Beltram, Aphex Twin
Words: Mike Watkins
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