Jacob's Optical Stairway – Solar Feelings

Wow, what a plate - Love the chilled atmospherics throughout & especially the sax lick on A2

The original starts with all the vibes of a great lovers rock tracks: Sparse drum programming, those girl-next-door vocals from Samantha Powell up front in the mix, deep keys and nice warm bass. Things get a little dark in the middle, but overall its a soothing, lovely track that works as well live as it does in the headphones. Classic.

"Solar Feelings" is a deep jazzy jungle track with Samantha Powell on vocals. The track itself is filled with clever drum programming & edits and a subby bassline, typical 4Hero quality in general. As for the remixes J Majik keeps the deep m.o. but delivers a slightly harder mix.

Claude Young, who usually makes Detroit Techno, does two jungle excursions which are really nice. The Groovematic version uses a heavy sub-bass and big strings along with a lot of great sound design to complement the driving breaks. The Kyoto Soul Dub makes use of Japanese strings and plucked sounds over a more frantic drum programming. Great stuff from all three parties involved.