Scuba – The Hope

Label: Hotflush

The Hope

Flash Addict

The last six months have seen Hotflush label-head Scuba, aka Paul Rose, become something of a Dance superstar. With his label’s increasing popularity (and quality) and his stunning Adrenalin EP that came out last summer, this fame is clearly deserved. In fact, his amazing slew of releases in 2011 earned him a spot on White Noise's Best EPs of 2011 and two entries into our Best Singles of the year. Good news for Scuba fans, his Personality LP will be out next month, and The Hope is being released as a single ahead of the album to whet our appetites.

Scuba’s productions used to be characterised by cerebral, complex tunes but with Adrenalin he took a turn towards the maximalist, with big sounds and bright effects combining to create House tunes that are, in a word, massive. Here he looks set to continue on this track, kicking off with no-nonsense club stomper The Hope. Rough, techy beats recall some of his work as SCB, but the anthemic vocal chant is a clear signifier of his bigger style, with acid-flavoured synths ramping the energy up to eleven midway through the track, and a classic House vocal cry icing the cake. Bright synths streak across the second half of the track, and it’s clear that this tune is nothing short of enormous, sure to light up dancefloors all over Europe. The inclusion of a Radio Edit is interesting, because although the vocals on this are fairly catchy, the shear driving force of the tune suggests it might not be the most radio-friendly tune, but time will tell if it can be a crossover success.

Flash Addict is a headier take but no less enjoyable, with swift synths arpeggiating a near-tropical rhythmic loop over a bouncing drum pattern. The blinding pace of both these tunes counteracts the criticism of an over-indulgent breakdown in Adrenalin, as on this second tune he barely lets up the pace for a second, the tune grinding to a quick halt midway through and being added to by various clever effects throughout to ensure a sense of variation even though the pace never lets off. Both these tracks continue to prove just why Scuba is so much the man of the moment right now, able as he is to make big tunes that are also interesting and well-constructed, while varying his stylistic output in a manner that puts a lot of other one-note producers to shame. Bring on Personality.

8.5/10