Brooks & Julian Jordan – Without You
• Lush and melodic break
• Tipped towards Brooks’ Future Bounce style
• Surprising twist before conclusion
Out of all other frontliners in this industry, STMPD has continued to capture our attention with their avant-garde releases. They have struck a delightful and appealing balance between underground and commercial spectrum of EDM genre, allowing various talents to showcase their mettle freely. Previous Friday, we couldn’t help but press repeat button on the latest creation from Dutch cognoscenti Julian Jordan and Brooks, titled “Without You”. Swaying with energy and animated summer-time tonality, the mentioned track has obliged us to write a few words.
This is not a surprise indeed, since the acts behind this production have such known repertoire. Julian Jordan has devised his own niche in the striking Bass House trademark of the imprint, while Brooks has amassed admiration (and inspired so many) for his idiosyncratic take at the Future Bounce style. “Without You” was certainly waiting for a happenstance, with both of them ace-ing the roster they are included in. With a memorable première at Tomorrowland Belgium over nine months ago, it finally came out after quite the speculation.
The soaring highlight of this instrumental, needless to be said, is the grabby vocal snippet. Even more, the lush Electro chords inject, if not nostalgia, an appealing melodic presence in the break. One could expect an aggressive and stabbing hook incoming after this, but fear not, the schematics tip towards a cheery Future Bounce drop, as one could anticipate from involvement of Brooks. However this is not the entirety, as one pleasant twist lays ahead of us from here.
Switching pitch and chords has been quite a commonplace practice in music, and dance music has benefited from this nifty trick, usually noticed in Hardstyle. Just shy of around the two-minute mark, the composition swaps for a higher key, embedding even more joyful nature (creditable to the adept choice of major scale here). This is a fresh breath for us listener, giving a different and amusing perspective to the used cadence. The following segment doesn’t revert back, and the energy hence resonates more.
“Without You” may not be the 50/50 joint effort we were looking for, but it fulfills the need for providing a good three minutes long of vitalizing and lively vibes.
