Album: George FitzGerald – Fading Love

Released 27th April, 2015

Domino Records

8/10

A lot of people write songs after break-ups, and George FitzGerald just broke up with predictable dance music. Due to this, Fading Love may not be what you expect. Considering the path taken to get to his debut LP, the content and message of this album are a stark departure from the last five years of singles produced by the Berlin based DJ/Producer.

The most obvious difference to anything prior is the pace and overall feel of the album. Fading Love is quite melancholy, and starts at a low, ambient base with ‘About Time’, featuring a prominent set of specially written vocals, rather than the predictable ‘sample vocal’ of popular tracks. The following song, ‘Full Circle’, the first single to be released from the album, also features the gentle vocals of Oli Bayston of Boxed In. This and ‘Crystalize’, are arguably the most similar to FitzGerald’s earlier work, but with good reason. They manage to allude to the more tactile, ambient nature of the rest of the album in an attempt to draw inexperienced listeners in towards a different, more leftfield approach to dance music. By doing this, Fading Love could be mentioned in the same breath as some Orbital releases, and parallels can also clearly be drawn to Jon Hopkins’s more recent work through tracks like ‘Your Two Faces’. Some FitzGerald trademarks are still present however, but are visibly more measured, like the subdued bassline of ‘Full Circle’.

Although the album lasts only 40 minutes, it has the feel of a, dark, night long set through the low ominous synths that undercut so many tracks. This really sets the album apart, as it carefully controls the energy levels, allowing them to flow through each track into the next, giving the whole album a clear narrative.

Ultimately, it’s an excellent post night out album, ideal for the slow return to normal after the club-ready dance music and huge basslines have finished, and the love affair with the night before is over.