Listen to all tracks here....
soundcloud.com/eclectics28/james-bright-ep-the-outside-clips
July 2021: Eclectics release The Outside/Suburbia by James Bright
James Bright returns to Eclectics with his first original material since February 2020. The world is a different place these days and The Outside/Suburbia is very much an EP for the times.
Bright offers up two new original tracks that marry tension and release, optimism and reminiscence, the past and the present. Opener The Outside makes a dash for the dancefloor with a linear, laser-guided focus. A driving, dark disco throb, it’s a mid-paced monster that delivers kosmiche class, with soaring vocals and strings sitting against metal-machine rhythms and an irresistible bass backdrop.
Suburbia treads a similar path – dark, brooding, building… Bright gently folds layer on layer, taking us with him every step of the way as he adds subtle acid flourishes and dynamic rhythmic shifts that lead us in to the middle of a progressive dancefloor with no idea of how we got there and no intention of leaving.
And the fun doesn’t stop there…The EP also comes with two radical reworks that fix a new, and entirely unexpected focus on these originals.
First up is Woolfy, who rebuilds The Outside from the ground up. It’s a root and branch rebuild that occasionally offers respectful glimpses of the pre-existing structure – exposed beams poking through the new layers of melody that throw open the windows and flood the place with light. The result is a Balearic beat that still hits hard, but with gentler textures softening the blow.
Sean Johnston meanwhile, here in his Hardway Bros guise, plunders not just the source material, but also the past in his pursuit of perfection. The result is a tableau tapestry brimming with emotion and breaks for days. Using samples and motifs snatched from deep within our collective unconscious, Johnston gives a knowing nod to nostalgia on his rework of Suburbia. This is no rose-tinted recollection, however. Rather than wallowing in how good things were, it’s a celebration of how good things can be again.
Eyes wide, facing forward.
The Outside/Suburbia is released on July/Aug 2021
To hear James’s first EP for Eclectics visit:
eclectics.bandcamp.com/album/james-bright-pacific-bright-ec0008
For more info on Woolfy visit:
woolfyvsprojections.bandcamp.com
For more info on Hardway Bros visit:
hardwaybros.bandcamp.com
For more info on Eclectics visit:
eclectics.bandcamp.com/music