シカゴ・ディープ・ハウスの巨匠Ron Trentが、Rush Hourレーベルから5年ぶりの作品『Lift Off』をリリース。35年前のデビュー作『Afterlife EP』以来の革新的なサウンドがここに結実した。

Part Oneには5つの傑作を収録。Wally Badarouに影響を受けた「Hot Ice」、サンバのリズムが印象的な「Woman of Color」、ディープ・ハウスとジャズの融合を聴かせる「Jazz Funk」、そしてLeroy Burgessとのコラボレーション「Let Me See You Shining」など、多様なサウンドが展開される。

Ron Trentの音楽的特徴である豊かなリズム、温かいコード、完璧な楽器配置が随所に光りつつ、ダンス・ミュージックの過去・現在・未来の境界を曖昧にする意欲作。2022年のダウンテンポ傑作『What Do The Stars Say To You』とは異なる、よりエネルギッシュなアプローチが特徴だ。

Ron Trentの音楽的ビジョンが詰まった、ファン必携の1枚。ハウス・ミュージックの新たな可能性を示す作品。

A1. Hot Ice
A2. Jazz-funk
B1. Woman Of Color
C1. Sexstrology
D1. Let Me See You Shining (feat Leroy Burgess)

After five years spent largely confined to the United States, Ron Trent is set to return to global touring in 2025. To mark the occasion, he’s partnered with Rush Hour to release Lift Off, a brand-new album of music recorded at different points over the last decade.

Arriving almost 35 years since he wowed the world with his game-changing debut, the Afterlife EP, Lift Off was inspired by Trent’s desire to ‘let the imagination speak for itself’ while exploring the diverse influences that have shaped his unique musical perspective. A departure from his previous album, 2022’s downtempo masterpiece as Warm, What Do The Stars Say To You, the 10-track set features a mixture of epic instrumentals, inspired collaborations and vocal cuts whose music was written with certain singers in mind.

While it features music that ripples with the experienced producer’s familiar aural trademarks – rich rhythms, warm chords, impeccable instrumentation, inspired arrangements, and lashings of heady hand percussion – it also consciously explores a variety of sounds and tempos, in the process blurring the lines between dance music’s past, present and future. It’s a vision, in his words, of what dance music can become.

For proof, check the five impeccable cuts on part one. There’s the tactile, Wally Badarou-inspired wonder ‘Hot Ice’, the mind-soothing chords, lilting synth-strings and samba-soaked percussion of ‘Woman of Color’, the warming deep house jazziness of ‘Jazz Funk’ and the restless, far-sighted brilliance of ‘Sexstrology’, where relaxed electric piano solos dance atop an infectious, locked-in dancefloor groove. 

Best of all though is Leroy Burgess collaboration ‘Let Me See You Shining’ – an inspired musical meeting of minds that cannily fuses Trent’s signature deep house sound with the soulful, vocal-driven brilliance of the New Yorker’s iconic boogie-era work. Even by the two artists’ dizzyingly high standards, it’s a very special song.