Another excellent studio album comes by way of Above & Beyond’s Anjunabeats imprint this month, this time from Glasgow-based trance and progressive talent Grum.’ Unreality’ is his fourth studio album, and his second with Anjunabeats. The label has previously released long players from names like Mat Zo, Super8 & Tab, and Trance Wax. Including 14 individual tracks, the project has a collective run time of around 67 minutes, and alongside its core sound of uplifting
trance and energetic progressive, also leans into areas of house, acid, and electro at times. 8 of the 14 inclusions bring credited features, with previous Grum-collaborators Natalie Shay and Dan Youdan contributing, alongside Sarah Appel and Sealine. As you might expect from an album of this length, not every track is going to blow you away, but the ones which do will have you coming back again and again. ‘Taking Over’ gets top marks as far as vocal heavy uplifting trance goes, while ‘Closer Apart’ goes in on the tech-trance front, and ‘Disconnected’ combines traditional trance elements with a filthy acid bassline. It’s a project that’s ripe for peak festival season, and we’ll no doubt see it featured in many main stage sets throughout the US and Europe this summer.
Where to start:
Taking Over Me: Punchy drums and uplifting vocals from Natalie Shay
Come Alive: Weighted basslines meet plucky synth melodies
Disconnected: Chunky drum hits and aggressive acid basslines
Previous from Grum:
Human Touch LP (2021, Deep State Recordings)
Deep State LP (2019, Anjunabeats)
If you like this then check out:
Andrew Bayer – In My Last Life LP (2018, Anjunabeats)
Genix – 199X LP (2021, Anjunabeats)
Grum – Unreality LP is out now on Anjunabeats.