Even with the hoopla around Freerange’s 30th anniversary, sister label Delusions of Grandeur is still out in the badlands sifting through the dirt for gems. After releasing Medlar’s Islands album last year, the leftfield-but-its-soulful producer makes a soft landing back on Delusions with the Celestial Bodies EP. This is a wide-ranging album of Afro-influenced soul, Balearica, deep house and the strange alloy that comes from stirring them together. In short: the perfect Delusions of Grandeur EP, from someone whose sound just fits here.
The A-side is preoccupied with “Solar,” featuring gorgeous keys and a chorus of voices, with Mtsjungles on lead vocals and a vamping bassline wrapped around them. It feels Afro-Latin but twisted — an artifact recovered from a record shop of a probable future. JKriv is assigned remix duties and the result is off-kilter disco house, with strings and vocal hits dancing across a tight percussive grid.
The B-side is for deeper journeys. The hypnotic “Destino” features For Mankind, and the deep acid boomer “Rigel” sounds like a track lifted from Fred P’s crate.
⚪️ Celestial Bodies Tracklisting
Medlar: Celestial Bodies EP (Delusions of Grandeur / 12" Vinyl + Digital)
1. Solar Feat. mtsjungles (05:50)
2. Solar Feat. mtsjungles (JKriv Remix) (06:13)
3. Destino (05:08)
4. Rigel (05:33)
⚪️ Disclosure Statement
This record was not submitted as a promo.
⚪️ Previous Coverage
📰 Issues: Beloved: Inside the new 5 Mag
❇ Feature: In The Wolf’s Lair: Inside WOLF Music with Harold Heath (2020)
Interruptor: Medlar drops a killer four track EP on Delusions of Grandeur (2022)
Medlar, Manuel Darquart join WOLF Music’s “Friends & Family” (2022)
5 Mag Issue 226
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