
Late Night Alumni is a collaboration between Ryan Raddon and Finn Bjarnson (members of the legendary Salt Lake City based deep house duo Kaskade), string musician John Hancock, and vocalist Becky Williams. Although there are times when Kaskade's bright-eyed, house style takes reign, Late Night Alumni have taken a down tempo slant and (for the most part) replaced the soulful style of Kaskade's "In The Moment" with a sound that is just patently...sweet.
Track Listing:
Seemingly Sleepy
Rainy Days
Empty Streets
The Rest Of You
Sunrise Comes Too Soon
Eros
Keep Up With Me
Heaven
Beautiful
Meant To Be
All For Nothing
Nothing Left To Say
With a mix of down, mid and up tempo tracks, Empty Streets covers it all, but it's the quiet, melancholy majority of this album that makes it something special. Starting with a nice, but very mid-tempo-Kaskade style in "Seemingly Sleepy", you realize at track two, "Rainy Days" which combines breathy, longing vocals, slow, subtle beats, and pulsing sub-bass kicks, with meandering Latin horns, and a lush arrangement of soft synth pads that this won't be just another Kaskade record.
"Empty Streets", the first single off the album, carries a more optimistic feel in a mid-tempo, deep house style, as "The Rest of You" comes on slow with Latin percussion and a soft 4/4 house beat met by Becky's delicate vocals which coalesce in beautifully warm melodies with Latin guitar strings. This track definitely stands out.
"Sunrise Comes Too Soon" is another really strong standout track. It has a Latin flavor with a deep arrangement of strings, mellow beats, sweet vocal melodies, and a few incredibly well placed string solos and bridges. "Eros" has a lighter feel that conjurs memories of a few early Sneaker Pimps songs. It's beats are ultra-mellow, with crisp synth work stepping across a backdrop of dense, but airy strings, as Becky's voice has a lightly vocoded effect on it. Fans of the dreamy and ultra-feminine will enjoy "Beautiful" and "Meant To Be".
"Meant To Be" and its incredibly melancholy, yet drippingly sweet emotional content would be a striking song if it weren't for an uncomfortable, overly-optimistic verse in the lyrics that follows "impossible" with "improbable". It feels a little "Broadway musical". You'll have to make your own call there.
Although it has a few tracks for the deep house floor, the strength of Late Night Alumni's "Empty Streets" lies squarely in its more delicate, melancholy moments.
To get that feminine fix with a mellow groove, Late Night Alumni's "Empty Streets" is definitely recommended.