Andrea - Due In Color

Label: Ilian Tape – ITLP14
Format: 2 x Vinyl, LP, Album, 180g
Country: Germany
Released: Mar 23, 2023
Genre: Electronic
Style: Ambient, Breakbeat, Drum n Bass, Hip Hop, Techno

In its submerging surreal ambience, Andrea's second album 'Due in Color' is a twelve-part sonic essay that draws striking visuals of an imaginative space in the minds of the one who cares to observe. Within its ambivalence, may you find yourself drifting through lush gardens where the sun shines bright in a summer haze or at the centre of an empty, foggy, dimly-lit warehouse where all audible layers reverberate through its high ceilings in the company of your own shadow.

The artist's journey with this full-length release began at the peak of modern self-isolation and distancing of 2020/21 when life was scarce on the streets or the dancefloor. At a lacklustre point of uncertainty, when love is not so much on time, Andrea has seemingly followed an urge to paint textures of rhythmic solace and embedded it within glimpses of blooming fields. The end of this discovery brings to reality a story that embraces and instils a newfound feeling of hope.

As the title suggests, 'Due in Color' duly encapsulates dreamy euphoria suspended over floating sounds of kicking drums, synths and bass that heavily compliments the rest of the mind-bending and body-moving collection at Ilian Tape. The album takes off with 'Jaim', an opening that sets on a hot pursuit for everything ethereal—a celestial display of silky atmospheres accompanied by the clanging of the drums breaking through right in the centre that dissolves just as quickly as it comes.

Swimming in its many textures, the first half of the album is delicate and tranquil drum & bass, like in 'Audieze' and 'Ress' pulsing steadily—solid appearances of snares and cymbals playing over a dense layer of emotive synths—the latter eventually absorb the drums in ' Remote Working' and 'Silent Now', calling for surrender to their tactile beauty.

The glimmering ambient and dainty drum & bass infusions exude an immersive club-friendly aesthetic ready to propel a dancefloor sound system or sweet enough to serve as a backdrop for a little short-lived romance by the bar.

Making an almost sultry segue is 'Sephr' with its dubstep influences of a slowed-down thumping bass, shifting moods into a rather alluring groove for swaying hips. The next half of the album is rich and flush with riveting sounds designed to create pure transcendence. 'Dove Mai' digs deeper into the depths of the conscious with its waves of misty synths drizzled over moving basslines, while 'Am Der' evokes a heartfelt sentiment for its gentle and expressive indulgence of a piano.

'Due in Color' impressively blurs genres and takes a swing on various emotions, making it attractive and consumable in diverse mood settings. Inspirations of experimental jazz are visible in the concoction of 'Chezzbio' and 'Hazzymo' running on effortless shuffling drums and laidback tempo that might as well be the nonchalant, unintentional byproduct of a creative process.

Like most releases on Ilian Tape, 'Due in Color' breathes a promising air of timelessness from the lucid elements buried in its compositions. Now freshly pressed, packaged, and in transit to new homes, the album sets off to add life to any musical archive it becomes a part of.

Review by Asmi Shetty

A1. Jaim
A2. Audieze
A3. Ress
B1. Remote Working
B2. Silent Now
B3. Sephr
C1. Lush In End (Drum Version)
C2. Dove Mai
C3. Chessbio
D1. Hazymo
D2. Am Der
D3. Return_Lei