Album releases are often one of the most hyped events in EDM. Such is the case with Tritonal’s ‘U & Me’, which saw an album announcement in 2018, followed by a steady release of singles from the album. The album itself contains 19 bubbly records, each of them with their own charm and distinctiveness.
2018 saw the release of singles like ‘U Found Me’ and ‘Ready’, which hinted at a progressive house direction to the album. But, this belief was countered with the release of ‘Out My Mind’ and When I’m With U’, which were lovable, sing-along bops.
While the final release of the album came with only 7 new songs (for the other 12 had already been released), Tritonal showed with these 7 that they still had some magic up their sleeves. A warm, deep house record, ‘Little By Little’, opens the album, while ‘Bloom’ plays with vocoders and bass stabs in an electric combination. ‘Quit U’ is one of the more mellow records on the album, while ‘Show U Love’ adds a future house spin to the feel of ‘U & Me’.
My personal previously-unreleased favorites from this body of work are ‘Leaving Here Alone’, ‘Medicine’ and ‘Ayana’. ‘Leaving Here Alone’ is an upbeat, progressive house duet featuring Matluck and Karra on vocals, a throwback to the Painting with Dreams era. ‘Medicine’ sees Tritonal collaborate with SJ and Audrey Assad under their alias LEVV, for a down-tempo tune that oozes with love and gratitude.
Nevertheless, in my opinion, the best tune on the album is ‘Ayana’. A tune with Nick Sibicky (collaborator on ‘Only Mortal’ in Painting with Dreams), ‘Ayana’ starts off with a stunning piano section, with an absolutely indelible melody. Things take a psytrance turn in the first drop, and move on to melodic dubstep in the second. Two genres that one would never anticipate from this duo. Yet, it’s the track that closes off the album, a resounding testament to Tritonal’s versatility as producers. You can check out these three tunes as part of my weekly-curated New Music Friday Spotify playlist.
In quite a contrast to their previous LP, ‘Painting With Dreams’, this entire record sees Tritonal explore the world of dance-pop, with their own unique electro sound design percolating through its entirety. While records like the experimental ‘Ayana’ or ‘Ready’ bear much more semblance to their Painting with Dreams sound, the lead singles from the album, including ‘When I’m With U’, ‘Hard Pass’, ‘Little Bit of Love’ and ‘Diamonds’, all lean towards a more pop-geared sound.
This album stands out due to the coherent dance-pop approach which shines through each unique record, even if it be situated closer to deep house, future house progressive house or even trance. That’s the sign of a timeless LP; one that will be on repeat by fans across the world.
Tritonal show no signs of stopping anytime soon, as their EDC LV 2019 set proves. With a couple of fiery, yet beautiful progressive house IDs, they seem to be returning to their roots. Make sure to check the full set out here, and of course, check out the album below!
