London producer Bruise shares new album "The Skyline"

North London house maverick Bruise announces captivating new album The Skyline

Digital release includes bonus The Reflex revision of “When Pianos Attack”

The Skyline lands on vinyl and digital June 23rd on Foundation Music

London producer Bruise returns with new album The Skyline, featuring singles “Brass Tacks”, “The Dassy Slide”, “Cascade”, digital version also includes bonus The Reflex remix of “When Pianos Attack”. Album drops on vinyl and digital June 23rd on Foundation Music.

Described by Faith/Junior Boys own legend Terry Farley as “Rotary Connection meets Mad Mike”, Bruise aka Christian Campbell (Sona Vabos) began life as a production collective whose alumni include Darren House aka Diesel (X-Press 2) with Campbell at the helm. The high praise hasn’t stopped there, since arriving on Foundation Music in 2020 he’s garnered support from dance royalty and underground tastemakers alike, including Pete Tong’s “Essential New Tunes” plus hype from Annie Mac, Pete Tong, Gilles Peterson, Shy One, Carista, Sarah Story, B. Riddim, Arlo Parks, and more.

Stepping up with his first album as Bruise, The Skyline draws on classical and cinematic influences to create a spectacular array of future anthems that storm through a spectrum of house and techno influences with authenticity, grit and flair, from moments of joyful euphoria to dark, driving heaters.

Kicking off proceedings The Skyline opens with Bruise at his most picturesque and cinematic: “Cascade” is a driving and emotive 4/4 vision of swirling strings and glittering pianos, while a choir builds to create a club track of haunting beauty, equally at home at midnight as at sunrise.

Hot on its heels is the behemoth horn-ucopia “Brass Tacks”, a big room belter packed with driving horn riffs, euphoric chords and a breakdown that is already proven club dynamite at peak-time.

“Thunder” sees Bruise delve into tougher-than-usual territory, described by The Reflex as an apocalyptic follow up to “When Pianos Attack”. Here we are treated to a dramatic dance-floor heater that mixes intensity and sensitivity to stunning effect. A fluttering wind section and cinematic strings compliment the brooding brass stabs that drive the track, a stirring show that erupts into a synth breakdown like a sonic electrical storm.

The album features two versions of “Driftin”, a DJ-friendly instrumental and a vocal featuring the sweet summery vox of Cleo Simone, a dreamy house cut full of hypnotic melodies, rich texture and blissful groove.

“The Dassy Slide” is a track that has been slowly gaining momentum since its release as a single at the end of 2022 and featured in Paul Smith’s AW23 Show in earlier this year as selected by Gilles Peterson. Here Bruise hits us with a basement-ready early night affair: warm, deep and groove-laden, with an infectious vocal sample and 2-step inspired beats punctuated by mellow saxes that call to mind 90s NY garage.

“Tears” goes hard with warehousey metallic breaks, a gargantuan bassline and distorted vox that dance with melancholic synths, giving way to a haunting breakdown that delivers beauty and brutality all at once.

Both formats of The Skyline include a massive IDM-flavored Future Beat Alliance remix of Bruise’s 2021 “Theme”, the UNKLE co-producers deliver a menacing slice of Detroit machine magic that will deliver shockwaves of pleasure through sound systems far and wide like a lost Carl Craig classic. The second of the album’s heavyweight remixes appears on digital formats only, The Reflex’s reimagining of “When Pianos Attack” is also elite gear not-to-be missed: a euphoric slice of disco wonk that will have feet and heads spinning.

The Skyline is an album full of delicious contrasts of sonic light and shade, rooted in a vast musical knowledge, it’s a truly captivating showcase of Bruise’s skill for delivering an absorbing sonic moment whether it’s mellow and dreamy or hard and uncompromising. A deeply authentic record, it weaves cinematic influences and touchstones of dance music’s rich history to stunning effect, the result overflowing with new ideas and fresh takes that can be enjoyed equally inside or out of the club. Essential!

On the album Bruise says:

“I wrote The Skyline as a follow-up to Presentation EP which was the first Bruise release back in 2020. Like Presentation I wanted the album to explore different sonics and genres and as I’m really into cinematic scores at the moment I wanted to bring that depth and emotion into some of the music. I particularly had this in mind when I wrote ‘Cascade’, ‘Brass Tacks’, and ‘Thunder’. These tracks use pianos, strings, choirs, and brass to build to these big drops, which musically draw on elements of classical and cinematic music but with an electronic edge, which I hope elevates them beyond just dance floor tools. With some of the other tracks like ‘The Dassy Slide’ and ‘Tears’, I wanted to try and deviate from 4/4 beats and experiment with other styles such as 2-step and breaks. We wanted to release all the tracks together on vinyl as a mini album, to showcase this range of styles but also to make this release genuine good value.”

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