San Ramon, CA-based artist Mike Quintor crafts a stirring sound across his new album TRANCE, dazzling with an array of pulsating synths, nocturnal grooves, and soulful vocals — blurring hip-hop, R&B, electronic and dream-pop stylishness. Entirely self-crafted, the album shows well across both heartfelt pop momentum and hypnotic late-night atmospheres, reflecting personal struggle, self-discovery, and genre-bending ambition throughout its runtime.
“GOOD TIME” kickstarts the album with a pulsating sense of momentum — weaving sporadic stabs of bright synths into a subdued, high-pitched vocal feeling. Accounts of being haunted then traverse into a smooth, soulful vocal lead, bolstered cohesively by steady rhythms as the “every time I see you it’s like the first time” smitten entrancement follows. A heartfelt, melodic opener, “GOOD TIME” is exemplary of the project’s knack for effervescent immediacy.
The ensuing “PARTY” struts a more nocturnal atmospheric appeal, as glistening keys and click-clacking rhythms emit a cavernous intrigue amidst a conversational vocal sample. A hypnotic, mellow beckoning for “some loving” emerges thereafter, stellar in its sincere emotion and late-night vibes. “LONELY NIGHTS” succeeds in a similar aesthetical realm with its introspective vocals and piano-led dreaminess.
Elsewhere, “BEAUTIFUL THING” injects spacey synth arpeggios and bustling rhythms for an enthralling soundscape, while “DREAM” conveys an arp-friendly danceability as layered synths and bird-chirping intertwine. TRANCE is an immersive standout from Mike Quintor, excelling stylistically from hip-hop and R&B to electro and dream-pop.
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We discovered this release via MusoSoup.
