JOY (2LP) | VINYL RECORD (LP)

Dusky, Dusky's music has always been built on the pleasure principle, but JOY - as the title makes absolutely clear - takes that to new levels of purity and intensity. Looking back to more innocent times and to rave music's halcyon days, the duo of Alfie Granger-Howell and Nick Harriman have tapped into that special moment when raving was still a voyage into the unknown. This project is a distillation of the spirit of people coming together in hard times, forgetting their troubles and celebrating life. All of the core elements here are familiar from the peak rave era and the birth of hardcore - the cascading pianos, the infectious bleep melodies, the Chicago and Detroit grooves, the rugged Belgian techno riffs, and the proto-jungle break beats - but retooled, rewired, and refreshed for this brave new world. It's both a natural development and noticeable evolution from the pair's previous work. Natural, because these musical elements have always been apparent in Dusky's sound, but a clear evolution in they way they are presented, with such an unreserved and joyous tone. The result is a celebration - and expression - of the communal ecstasy of the dance floor experience. An expression of 18 months yearning to be back out there communing and celebrating. An expression of everything that dance music - and dance culture - is about at it's very best. JOY brings together all the finesse and subtlety that Dusky have honed while traversing the various corners of clubland over the past decade, all their understanding of fundamental dance floor dynamics, and channels it all to a single, unified purpose. At a time when we've all suffered, we've all struggled, and we're all uncertain, we've never needed this sense of unity more. All the release we've so badly wanted is here: we all need JOY.