Nearly a decade after the anthemic dubstep-meets-trap anthem "Wut" made a seismic impact on the dance music underground in 2010, London-based producer
Girl Unit released his long-awaited debut full-length,
Song Feel.
Philip Gamble's intentions are made clear with the album's title -- he's already proven his mastery of club dynamics on earlier releases such as 2012's phenomenal
Club Rez, and here he's stepping up to writing proper songs. Geared toward the radio rather than Fabric, these tunes are as intricate and finely tuned as his previous compositions, but the big, glossy melodies are generally toned down in order to leave room for the guest vocalists.
Kelela has sung over
Girl Unit productions in the past, so it's no surprise that their chemistry is as strong as ever on the slow burner "WYWD," which demonstrates how much both artists have matured since
Cut 4 Me changed the game back in 2013. (An uptempo remix of the song concludes the album, keeping the yearning sentiment of the song intact while making it more club-friendly.) The Auto-Tune-kissed "Stuck" (with
Taliwhoah) and the spirited, piano-driven "24 Hours" (featuring Brook Baili) are more overtly pop than anything
Gamble has done before, yet they're still filled with detailed arrangements which sound stranger the more you listen deeply and pay attention to them. "Sucker Free" and "Pull Up" (featuring Ms. Boogie and Thast, respectively) are fierce trap bangers tailor-made for the Jeep, while the more atmospheric "Head" twists a stray vocal sample into something reflective and daydream-like, squeezing melancholy out of a few manipulated syllables the way he did in "Wut" without going as over-the-top. A bit more ecstatic is the partial rave flashback "Pure Gold," which switches between rumbling breaks and slower, booming Southern rap beats without losing balance. Ambitious in a different way than the producer's earlier releases,
Song Feel is every bit as close to the heart.