There’s a moment about two thirds through “Need You” where the drums cut out completely and leave the vocal hanging alone for two bars, and it’s the whole reason to hear this. Oliverse works the melodic end of bass music, the stuff with actual chords under the weight, and Need You leans hard into the pretty before it detonates. When the drop finally comes back it’s fuller and nastier than the tension promised, a real payoff rather than a polite one. The vocal is chopped into a hook that sits somewhere between longing and desperation, and he loops it just past the point of comfort. I’ve had it on repeat while doing nothing in particular and it keeps yanking my attention back off whatever I’m supposed to be doing. Oliverse has a knack for making the melodic stuff land without going soft, and this is another one where the payoff is worth the wait.
January
Chrome Daydream
Chrome stars, jelly hearts and holographic colour. A nod to the glossy, optimistic graphics of the early web.