Embrace EP

As club music fans, we constantly seek out those special peak hour moments of sonic bliss, the moments that help justify staying out well past midnight. The Embrace EP captures the essence of those rave-affirming moments and tips its hat to the pioneers of its trancey 90s underground sound. Making his Fortune Signal debut, LA native Akumen delivers a rave-ready 5-tracker just itching to be unleashed at peak time in a warehouse near you. For this new release, Akumen has infused his signature house and techno workouts with what he cheekily describes as 'proto-trance.' A tasteful yet potent combination of sonic ingredients, the resulting Embrace EP is a cohesive odyssey full of pumping bass and kicks, mysterious synth melodies, and skittering breakbeats.

Opening track "Bring It" lures the listener in with a hypnotic, elastic bassline before exploding into a cascading synthetic swirl. Its insistent vocal sample is an irresistible call to move your body.

The eponymous "Embrace" ventures further down the rabbit hole with tenacious synth stabs, eventually contronting you with a fully-formed trance moment.

"I Can Feel It" opens with classic organ notes, a nod to Akumen's house roots. As it draws closer to its apex, the song plucks at your heartstrings with anthemic synth stabs and an evocative, soulful vocal sample.

"Meta-Emotion", Akumen's fourth original track, is a mesmerizing dip into the ether. Bass-heavy drum grooves cut through spacious synth arpeggios with driving authority.

To conclude our journey, NYC underground luminary and Toucan Sounds Haruka Salt slaps an exclamation mark on the release with a loopy and deliciously percussive remix of "Bring It" that re-awakens your senses for the final dance.

Inverted Audio praises Akumen, who "takes the psychedelic, oil-sheened basslines of [the] subgenre and adds to it US house hook snapshots, while Haruka Salt add detuned piano rave chords to her remodel... the titular track 'Embrace' works all the right muscles for a holistic dancefloor full of poitive energy."

Akumen is a long-time fixture in the LA underground scene and co-runs the Made to Move monthly party and radio show. Working out of his home studio in East LA, Akumen produces "atmospheric, breaky and lush cuts to high octane, full-on-rave" tracks for labels including La Bonne Musique, 12 Inches Deep, Low Recordings and now Fortune Signal.

Tracks from the EP have received early support from Tom Ravenscroft on BBC Radio 6, Travis Holcombe on the legendary KCRW, Joyce Muniz, Monotronique, and Ron Eliott; as well as premieres from Inverted Audio and Les Yeux Orange.

Embrace EP drops on July 29, 2022 via Fortune Signal