About

After five years spent largely confined to the United States, Ron Trent is set to return to global touring in 2025. To mark the occasion, he’s partnered with Rush Hour to release Lift Off, a brand-new album of music recorded at different points over the last decade.

Arriving almost 35 years since he wowed the world with his game-changing debut, the Afterlife EP, Lift Off was inspired by Trent’s desire to ‘let the imagination speak for itself’ while exploring the diverse influences that have shaped his unique musical perspective. A departure from his previous album, 2022’s downtempo masterpiece as Warm, What Do The Stars Say To You, the 10-track set features a mixture of epic instrumentals, inspired collaborations and vocal cuts whose music was written with certain singers in mind.

While Lift Off features music that ripples with Trent’s familiar aural trademarks –rich rhythms, warm chords, impeccable instrumentation, inspired arrangements, and lashings of heady hand percussion – it sees the long-serving producer explore a variety of sounds and tempos, in the process blurring the lines between dance music’s past, present and future. In his words, it’s a vision of what dance music can become, where nods to new wave, alternative and slow jams sit side by side with up-tempo dancefloor workouts rooted in R&B, jazz-funk, house and sunset-dance.

Presented on two double vinyl albums, Lift Off contains some of Trent’s most magical and sonically detailed music to date.

For proof, check the five impeccable cuts on Part One. There’s the tactile, Wally Badarou-inspired wonder ‘Hot Ice’, the mind-soothing chords, lilting synth-strings and samba-soaked percussion of ‘Woman of Color’, the warming deep house jazziness of ‘Jazz Funk’ and the restless, far-sighted brilliance of ‘Sexstrology’, where relaxed electric piano solos dance atop an infectious, locked-in dancefloor groove. 

Best of all though is Leroy Burgess collaboration ‘Let Me See You Shining’ – an inspired musical meeting of minds that cannily fuses Trent’s signature deep house sound with the soulful, vocal-driven brilliance of the New Yorker’s iconic boogie-era work. Even by the two artists’ dizzyingly high standards, it’s a very special song. — (via Label)

Ron Trent’s artistry is rooted in sounds that transcend time and space, and Lift Off is a supernova all its own. Via two parts and drawing from a decade of recordings, the Chicago visionary constructs a psychedelic jazz club among the stars. To arrive, listeners must embark on sonic detours through instrumental panoramas that defy modern algorithmic norms, each fueled by Trent’s intention to “let the imagination speak for itself”. Consequently, the album’s 10 compositions embrace well-deserved room to breathe — like Pt. 1’s ‘Woman of Color’, for example, an 11-minute odyssey of lively percussion, lilting keys and expansive synths that make for a trippy ride through Trent’s musical mindscape. More soulful vocals add dimension in Pt. 2 with ‘And Fly Away’ and ‘Her’ fueling a final ascent from which, frankly, we may never come back down. — (via DJ Mag)

Part One // Vinyl tracklist:
A1 Hot Ice
A2 Jazz Funk
B1 Woman Of Color
C1 Sexstrology
D1 Let Me See You Shining feat. Leroy Burgess

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Label: Rush Hour 
Released: 2025
Format: 2 x Vinyl, LP, Stereo
Genre: Electronic
Style: Deep House, House, Downtempo

File under: Electronic

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