We, the custodians of all things Seladorian, purveyors of only the good stuff, are chuffed to welcome Mr Sam Hopgood back aboard the good ship Selador. Hot on the heels of his stellar contributions to our last two showcase releases (‘Waiting’ on 2021’s ‘The 14th Adventure’ / ‘Trust’ on our 2022 opener ‘The Phenomenal 15th’), the man from Melbourne now steps up with this solo double header.
“Two tracks with simple melodic motifs that twist, bend and build into epic dancefloor moments,” is how Sam himself describes the choice cuts you have before you. You make it sound oh so simple, Sam – and much as you have achieved those stated aims, and then some, it takes a perfectionist’s ear, natural talent to burn and a dollop of Aussie chutzpah to carry the whole thing off with such aplomb.
‘Flow’ gets straight down to business from the off, this is haunting 4am tuneage of the highest order. As Sam says, it twists, bends and builds like a theme park ride on acid – well Sam said the first bit, we added the second, ‘cos that’s how it made us feel. Intense.
‘Undulation’ kicks off with a crisp metallic sheen, before a one note synth line enters the fray, and gets bent in and out of shape, a mystery vocal snippet then heralding a heads down dancefloor monster that doesn’t let up for any of its near seven minute duration. Brain-mashing squelches weave in and out, morphing and melding with the aforementioned hypnotic riff and metallic percussion. Yowsah.
Team Selador – top of the flow charts.