John Roberts (3) ‎– Glass Eights

As a debut this is an incredible journey into modern deep house and more, with enough common ground that balances both electronic tenderness and dancefloor grooves that will please all those who desire quality deep music. This is a beautifully crafted album with plenty of sounds and shapes from tight crystalline rhythms to groovy beats, plus deep chords and strings and even Phillip Glass like atmosphere! that will sink into your soul with its seductive dancefloor elegance and deep haunting moods. John Robert's uses his creative classically-formed style of deep padded Chicago house with occasional techno, and even at times accompanied by acoustic arrangements using graceful piano sweeps and bassy cello, bringing an almost cinematic feel to the already captivating electronic rhythms and beats which are also interestingly sometimes off-key and even occasionally dark. Tracks lean on to each other across the album as John's unique musical detail and atmosphere are carried over from track to track yet still manages to squeeze new sounds witg creativity for each individual track even when mood and variations do change...Glass Eights never loses that important deep focus or musical direction that keeps the album feeling magical and fully complete as a whole, making this album an essential deep-house listen and electronic album in every-way! Excellent.

Though John Roberts' compositions sound simple -- a piano chord here, a beat there -- it's the simplicity that makes them explode. From the first track off GLASS EIGHTS, "Lesser," you can hear how he structures a few piano lines into something deep and emotive. Similarly, "Ever Or Not" sounds crystalline and fragile, though it doesn't shatter once the beat kicks in. "Dedicated" takes the tones down several octaves and introduces some woozy synths, while the reversed sounds of "Navy Blue" add a surreal touch before the other layers seep in. "Pruned" has a loping beat, like a dog missing a leg, while the gentle loops that starts off "August" soon morph into stabs of sound. "Went" has the trappings of a symphonic jazz track with its plucked bass and strings, and "Glass Eights" closes the album back on a deep house tip. Marvelous.