- Seth Troxler and Matthew Dear. One of dance music's brightest up-and-coming stars, and one of its most established. Together. At last. Or something like that. While you might lazily call this a match made in heaven, I'm not so sure. Dear's clinical darkness seems like an ill fit for the sexy, swaying deep house that Troxler favors. And in "Hurt" you get the sense that both voices are equally present in the track—something that doesn't help either party.
Ghostly's press release says that "Hurt" is "dance music distilled to its humid essence." I can hear the humidity pretty easily: The dark vocals are leavened by typically wet snares. But the tune would have been better served with a bit more distillation. "Hurt" is extraordinarily busy, trying to do justice to a vocal melody, a synth line, various percussion tracks and, eventually, a jazzy keyboard vamp. While it's nice to hear such (well-produced) ambition, there's simply too much to digest. (And once you have, you'll likely find it isn't that satisfying anyway.)
Tracklist Seth Troxler feat. Matthew Dear - Hurt