Pure party energy for the weekend, coming from quite the act.
Fridays bring the music, we’re aware of that. Fridays also provide good music, and that’s the seam we’re at today. Irish-Italian DJ and producer Flashmob has conquered quite the summit today, as he just released his debut album Sundown, on his very own Flashmob Records imprint.
Flashmob has used the past few years to reinvent his sound, drawing inspiration from the 90s. Rather than resting on his past successes like ‘Need In Me’ and ‘Closer’, he’s embraced the evolving landscape of Electronic music, opening his production to a new range of sounds and styles. This can be seen in today’s product.
Sundown
As a format, albums have always represented a very personal statement of artistic intent — even more so today, in an era of standalone singles and streaming edits. Painstakingly created over the course of four years, Flashmob’s artist album Sundown is the sum of his experiences and influences from over a decade in the industry — a distilled representation of creative vision, seasoned artistry, and an untarnished excitement for what is still to come.
And even though the message imprinted is quite hopeful and positive, the album came from a place of uneasiness. Not a single person was unaffected by the times of Lockdown which struck around 2020 and 2021. People eventually learned their way around solitude and confinement and, perhaps, these trying times brought the most creativity to artists. Flashmob was one of them.
Some looked forward to the future, when things would go back to normal, and wrote about that moment in which we could all gather again. Others, like Sandro, reflected upon the past, and where they were standing in life. He recalls, “Covid had obliged me to reset, stay home and think about who I am, what I do and mainly why I do it. Why did I decide to get into this in the first place? It wasn’t to be famous nor to make money… I was only looking for happiness“.
Writer’s Picks
It’s the first time this has happened to me, I believe, but my favourite two tracks are neighbours. ‘Night Swimming‘ really caught my attention. Sandro’s work with Laila Walker and Maritime Yacht Club feels almost introspective for some reason. It gives me a feeling of a cold-ish summer night, with friends, just having got out of the pool with the moon and the starts reigning above.
The track immediately after that one, ‘Time Chance‘, also has my appreciation. It’s a simple, yet super fun composition, with a ton of groove and focusing a bunch on the middle and low frequencies, somewhat leaving the highs a bit aside. As a producer myself, I know my flaws, and one of them is that I always end up saturating the higher end of the spectrum with stuff. This song, on the contrary, masters the art of utilising just the necessary pieces.
Flashmob — Sundown Tracklist
- So Far – Intro with Laila Walker
- Tonight with Laila Walker
- Welcome to My World
- Not Like You
- Night Swimming with Laila Walker and Maritime Yacht Club
- Time Chance
- Sundown
- Twin Flames with Laila Walker
- Right Now with Lazarusman
- Hands All over Me
- Feel the Night with Laila Walker
- What’s Next – Outro with Robin De la Rue
The album is also an expression of not wanting to be part of the dog race anymore — not wanting to see music as a competition but as a medicine; it’s an expression of how you can do anything on your own if you want to.
-Flashmob
Final Words
All in all, the album is an amazing compilation of party moments, and it’s even an interesting piece to analyse with change in mind. You can definitely hear the old-school influences (cue Acid notes, machine-programmed percussion, chord stabs), but you can hear them turned into something quite modern and which sees the future as an opportunity, not a worry.
Listen to Flashmob‘s debut LP Sundown by hitting the ‘Play‘ button on the Spotify player below. Also, click here to support the release over on Beatport. Are you a producer and you’d like to see your tracks on our page? Then head over to this link right here, you champ. Be sure to follow our page to stay up to date on the latest news and views regarding our beloved Dance music industry.