- Glittering club music hybrids that take in everything from dubstep to trance.
- "May I Help You," the opening track from LUXE's debut EP Belonging, is a prime example of the hybridism that makes the UK producer's music exciting. What we think is going to be heads-down gunfingers-up dubstep gracefully pirouettes into glittering trance that prances shoulder to shoulder with a warbling bassline. You might not see it coming, but you'll welcome the surprise.
The London-based artist, real name Lucy Hopson, studied classical music in Manchester, where she joined the party collective B.L.O.O.M under the name DJ Luz. She still holds that residency now—plus a spot at London's Percolate series—though she retired DJ Luz in 2020 to become LUXE. Under the new name, Hopson takes a pick-n-mix approach to dance music that selects bits from vintage prog house, trance, dubstep and jungle, sometimes with a sprinkling of contemporary R&B. Her love for polished vocals is most obvious on the EP's title track, which starts out as snappy electro and bursts into swooping, ravey breaks by the end, led by Hopson's own impassioned voice. "A83," on the other hand, is a sparkly progressive house monster. Its kick drum begins as a supple trance ripple and quickly toughens as the track morphs into an all-out trance-house heater.
Belonging is out on Radical New Theory, a new label run by HAAi and her partner Alice Pelly. HAAi is one of many bigging up LUXE as one to watch. This may be her debut EP, but it beams with the confidence of an artist who has already found her place.
Tracklist01. May I Help You?
02. A83
03. Everything Must Go
04. Belonging