Reviewed: Freerange Records – ‘30 Years Of Freerange Vol. 4’
Thirty years of Freerange is a difficult history to reduce to a handful of tracks, but the fourth volume of its anniversary series succeeds by not trying too hard to do so. Instead, six artists and collaborations approach the label’s house foundations from distinctly different angles. Pre-order it here.
Dam Swindle provide an ideal opening with ‘I Met Her Last Summer’. Warm chords and a loose disco pulse give it an immediate familiarity, but there is enough restraint in the arrangement to stop the nostalgia becoming the point. It feels effortless, which is usually where the duo are at their best.
Rocco Rodamaal and Oliver Night push further towards soulful territory on ‘Body & Soul’. Night’s vocal gives the track its centre of gravity, sitting naturally against Rodamaal’s polished deep house production without tipping into excess.
Andy Ash’s ‘Bailey’ is subtler. A filtered vocal circles above crunchy drums and rising synths, creating a rolling groove that feels built for the middle of a long set rather than an obvious peak. Black Loops follows by stripping things back further on ‘Body Frequencies’, where swing, low-end pressure and cleverly worked samples turn relatively few ingredients into one of the EP’s most functional club tracks.
The most absorbing moment arrives with L.D.F. and Trinidadian Deep’s ‘African Dream’. Percussion leads the way, but its patient development and rich synth work give the track a genuinely immersive quality. Nothing feels hurried.
Then Greg Paulus and Krol effectively tear up the template. ‘Waitin’’ combines raw house drums, piano, Paulus’ vocals and live trumpet into something stranger and less easily classified. It could have been an awkward closing detour. Instead, its looseness makes perfect sense after five increasingly deep explorations of the label’s musical DNA.
That ultimately makes Volume 4 work as more than anniversary material. It acknowledges the warmth, soul and musicianship synonymous with Freerange without treating its past as something that needs preserving behind glass.
