Duality by Duke Dumont Album Review

Chris Spear

British Dj/Producer Duke Dumont has been a mainstay for dance music lovers of all kinds. Ever since I was first introduced to his track “Won’t Look Back” in 2014, I have always thoroughly enjoyed his releases. On April 17, 2020, he released his first full length album, Duality, and it is a wonderful mix of different styles of house sure to get you moving. The more I listened to the album the more it grew on me. A majority of the album you could listen to while working out or dancing around the house. In an alternate universe you would hear a lot of these tracks in bars and clubs.

The album opens up with “Therapy,” more of an old school house track using lots of familiar loops and stabbing piano riffs. With its familiar soulful vocals, it is a great way to be introduced to Duality. “The Power” featuring Zak Abel is a solid progressive house track with catchy vocals. I particularly like the swelling bassline.

One of the darker tracks, “Obey,” featuring Roland Clark, has a fun bass line with lots of acid house vibes. This track pleasantly surprised me the first time I listened through Duality. I always like it when producers vary their styles when it comes to an album. Things get a bit deeper with “The Fear” featuring Niia. The bass and vocals compliment each other well while an echoing guitar swirls melding into strings.

“Nightcrawler” featuring Say Lou Lou is a more chill indie dance track with catchy guitar riffs layered with sparkling pads all layered on top of sexy vocals. Originally released in 2015, “Ocean Drive” is a classic Nu-Disco track. The vocals, guitar, and bass keep you moving no matter where you are.

I am a sucker for vocoders and “Together” featuring How To Dress Well has vocoders for days. The clean falsetto vocals on top along with the other elements of the track do a great job of building up to the drop. “Love Song” Is another house track featuring soulful vocals. The thing that stands out the most to me in this track are the horns. There is a good blend of when it is the driving force of the track and when it is in the background, adding to the depth of the song.

“Overture” is a minute long piano piece that leads fantastically into the final track of the album. I actually wish there were more tracks like this, and hopefully we will get similar tunes in the future. “Let Me Go” featuring RY X is my favorite track on the album. It builds on the piano from Overture and is nothing short of epic. The layers of vocals, synths, and strings creates such a swell of beauty.

Overall I really enjoyed Duality. I hope Duke Dumont continues to create more dance music that shares a lot of the elements with the latter tracks of the album. We know he can make great house and deep house tracks, but I always love hearing producers grow and evolve, which he continues to do.

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