Australian producer South Pole brings us an exceptional body of work here in the form of the Keep Your Heart LP.
Starting off with the epic, soundtrack-inspired title track 'Keep Your Heart' which exudes honest emotion and power with crashing drums and dramatic orchestral strings, things are quickly set in to dance music fashion with the laid back 4x4 beats of 'Beneath Our Starlit Sky' and the chirpy, funky sounds of 'Till The Dawn'. 'Meteora' takes things back down with smooth, airy vocal parts and silky, chorded synths and with extra attention to detail on dynamic percussion, 'Cloudburst' shows Sam's ability to craft constantly-enveloping, soundscapy progressive. Hitting a mid-way point in a sophisticated fashion is 'Holding You' which features cool, twangy picked guitar melodies and warm synth motifs. 'No One But You' is sharp and tightly-produced with echoing vocal cries that provide the outer coating for euphoric guitar lines and tantalising, balearic-style plucked melodies. Raising the tempo once more is 'One Last Glimpse' which plays on melancholic melodic themes and blows them up in to epic proportions with wide, reverberant musical layers and chunky, driving drums. Further utilising acoustic instruments amongst traditionally electronic elements in 'Shine', a blissfully positive atmosphere is created with a great 'hands in the air' main section. Rounding off this unique artist's stunning LP is the closing track 'Ascension' which tugs on bittersweet emotions with captivating 'wah wah' guitar parts and thick chords along with punchy drums and interesting arpeggios and electro-style wobbly FX.
The sunshine-ridden melodies of South Pole's 'Keep Your Heart LP' will no doubt be a winner amongst fans of summer-sounding progressive and colourfully-arranged dance music.
