Album Review: Faithless – All Blessed
2 min read
Faithless are one of the most iconic and important dance acts in the genres turbulent history. Their first full length record in over five years is a terrific one, a clear sign to other younger artists in the industry that taking your time with producing is often a far superior take compared to churning out release after release.
The album opens with and is littered with the brilliant London based poet and performer Suli Breaks. His lyricism and eclectic tone are sensational and set the record of on a bubblingly optimistic opening.
Third track; I Need Someone featuring Nathan Ball and Caleb Femi begins with an almost EDM sounding vocal above a subtle and subdued house beat. At first I found this combination rather awkward but after my second, third, fourth listen I fell in love. It’s combination, with the later featured words of Femi, producing a stunning match. This is a track packed with emotion and depth, combining two fantastic features with an orchestral ambience only Faithless are capable of creating.
Friendship intimately interludes the record, the waning chine underlays a poem. An ode to lessons learnt from life’s challenges.
One amazing aspect of this record is how it works as one cohesive production, many of the tracks magically merging together, their stories continuing and concluding in a simple and structured way. The album tells a story, one you are able to interpret how you hear it, and one taking the listener back to Faithless’ beginning. A time when trance, house and electronica were a new and exiting experience.
The record concludes with Innadadance, an uplifting, funky and jazzy house track featuring more vocals from Suli Breaks. “Every raindrop, there’s a summer…despite the war, there is still peace”. The whole record and every single vocal feels optimistic, hopeful and places faith back into humanity.
Finally; Take Your Time slows the whole affair down to finish what is a wholehearted and warming experience, how an album should be.
In a time where a smile is so hard to come by and quality music is often undervalued this album had me beaming throughout. Faithless are an unmatched production pairing, whose legacy and success appears limitless. The album is a raw and real electronic jam, with some wonderful features of poetry and lyricism often so missing from dance music.
