A comprehensive roundup of all things Drum & Bass just came out today.
Let us captivate your ears with this piece of news today. Brighton’s Drum & Bass star in the making, Sakkura, has lifted the veil on one of her greatest projects to date, a spellbinding artist album titled ASTRAL, via Atherea Records. To celebrate the launch, Sakkura will also embark on a live tour with her newly formed band, performing as Sakkura Live.
ASTRAL is, as mentioned, a comprehensive roundup of the whole of the Drum & Bass spectrum, effortlessly blending euphoric, vocal-led tracks with intense, gritty beats across its eleven delightful tracks. The album not only highlights Sakkura’s production skills, but also reflects her deep connection to a genre that has profoundly influenced her career and personal life.
ASTRAL
For Sakkura, this project represents a significant phase of transformation and healing, with music serving as a vital means of renewal. The approach Sophia took to crafting the LP is quite unique, as out of the entire tracklist, only one is 100% her work. The other nine tracks were thought out and constructed as collaborations, further enhancing her will to contribute to the DnB — and ultimately Dance — community.
Contributions come from an impressive array of talent including Miss Melody, Riva, Ten-K, Dee Freer, Project Takeover, Hoodz, RV, and Mavrik. “ASTRAL really has been a journey for me, both personally and artistically“, says Sophia (Sakkura). “As an album it’s a true representation of where I have been musically, but creatively it has allowed me to collaborate with some of my closest friends in a way that I haven’t been able to before. It’s very freeing to finally have it released and we have already started putting the next project together“.
One thing I truly enjoy about Sakkura’s vision is how she believes collaborations are key to unlocking new sounds, instead of just blending two already existing ones. She describes her collaborators as close friends, almost like family, and explains that working together allows them to be creatively unrestricted.
Writer’s Picks
I love the fact that all songs have their unique flair to them, and they all represent sort of a different corner of DnB. I’m not a connoisseur of the genre by any means, but I do dig it, and in particular, one track that stood out to me from the first listen was ‘So Free‘, the second track of the album. It’s just such a lovely track to me. It sounds old-school, it sounds fast-paced, like it has an urge to imprint its message on one as a listener.
Also, ‘Purity‘ takes a close silver medal on my four listens to the album from start to finish. Actually, I’ll go on to say this one might be my absolute favourite track whenever I’m not hypnotised by the percussion present in ‘So Free’. Its euphoric, singalong-ey nature truly leaves a lasting impression, and those gated vocal beds are just a nod to my ever home: Trance. Plus, the track as a whole reminds me of the Blackbox era of Need For Speed games, which were my childhood. I’m sorry, I can’t be unbiased when nostalgia comes into play.
Sakkura — ASTRAL Tracklist
- Bad Girl with Riva & Miss Melody
- So Free with Riva, Ten-K & Miss Melody
- Gravitation with Dee Freer & Project Takeover
- Ethereal with Riva & Miss Melody
- Double Filthy with Miss Melody, Hoodz & Riva
- Purity with Riva
- Ultrasound with Miss Melody & RV
- Taking Me Higher with Riva & Miss Melody
- Peep Show
- Human Storage with Hoods
- Bristol Beats with Mavrik & Hoodz
Sakkura is an artist name, but it’s also a band name, and a collective. It’s ambiguous, and I like that – it represents something more than just me. It’s the Japanese word for blossom and I think that idea of a re-birth, of Spring and new life, is something that sits at the centre of what Sakkura represents as a creative project.
-Sakkura
Final Words
Overall, the whole album is an interesting journey. So interesting, in fact, that only by the third album listen did I actually notice the tracks in which certain artists performed, all had a distinctive vibe to them. That was eye-opening for me, and I can surely state that idea of the ambiguous collective is fully present. And contrary to how it sounds from the get-go to use such a concept, it’s executed in the best way possible in here. Truly a job well done.
Listen to Sakkura‘s incredible LP ASTRAL by hitting the ‘Play‘ button on the Spotify player below. Also, click here to support the release on your platform of choice. 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.
