Oriel Dax is the project of South Yorkshire producer Robin Downe, and it started life as a purely electronic idea before a long-held love of 70s and 80s funk, jazz-funk, Euro-electronica, disco and film soundtracks pulled it in a different direction, bringing live instrumentation and the occasional vocal into the mix alongside the electronics. “The True Speed Of Light” is the project’s first proper official release, following a single prior appearance on the tribute album “23 for PB,” and it blends first- and second-wave Detroit techno with progressive house and techno-pop, landing somewhere between reference points like YMO and Propaganda on one end and something closer to The Weeknd on the other.
As a fan of house and electronic music, though it’s not my desert island pick, I’m genuinely glad to say this track has a lot going for it harmonically, melodically, and texturally. Too often in this genre you get artists making a few loops and calling it a day, but this is a complete composition, one that actually tells a story if you sit down and really listen to it. The momentum here isn’t just carried by energetic drum loops either; it comes through in the harmony itself, which has a real sense of racing forward, fittingly in step with the track’s whole light-speed theme.
That attention to composition over just groove is what separates “The True Speed Of Light” from a lot of dancefloor-focused electronic music, a track built to reward close listening as much as movement. For a debut official release built from such a wide range of influences, Downe pulls it together into something genuinely cohesive, and it makes a strong case for Oriel Dax as a project worth keeping an eye on beyond just chill, second-room playlist filler.