- UK garage euphoria painted in bright neon hues.
- Chris Pell's breakthrough moment as Sharda was in 2019's Kiwi Manifesto mixtape by Conducta. His track "Replay" was a distillation of the Kiwi sound, a euphoric and glossy style of UK garage. "Replay" took all the garage staples—like starry-eyed chipmunk vocals and a squidgy bassline—and added Pell's own twist with an outrageous Rhodes solo over the top. Since then, he's only dialed up the contrast. On his 2019 debut for Local Action, tracks like "Memory" and "Rowdy Boy Ringroad" were the sound of a former candy raver rushing home to get on Ableton after their first DJ EZ set. Pell returns to Local Action with High Tide, an EP that paints with bright blotches of neon acrylic over swung drums and meaty basslines.
Opener "South" is about as subtle as a big-screen marriage proposal at a football game: its monstrous kick and shrieking vocal climax with synth pop chords that bounce in around three minutes in. And the second drop in "What I Feel" is just begging for a spinback. The garage house collaboration with Y U QT is going to have hands reaching for the CDJ demanding once the organ bassline comes in to push everything over the edge. "No Fear" adds breakbeats to the mix, turning into a polychromatic rave monster with shades of old Rustie.
Even when he was working with complex concepts, Pell's previous releases as Murlo always had hints of rave euphoria smuggled into the fringes. As Sharda that becomes the focus. The tracks on High Tide are exhilarating in their unashamed hugeness—just check those Mortal Kombat-esque synth chords on speed garage banger "Got To Live." This is UK club music that is almost audacious in its quest for pure, unbridled fun.
Tracklist01. South
02. What I Feel feat. Y U QT
03. Got To Live
04. No Fear