Erin Hopes

Striking debut of high velocity techno trance mutations by Erin Hopes, the fresh blood pumper on Lost Domain - a London co-op helmed by BEB/Low Company’s Kiran Sande with DJ Gonz & Conrad Pack.

Hailing from Glasgow, Erin Hopes plays into that city’s tastes for upfront, instantly effective dance music with a strong twist of personality and melancholy, dreamy emotional register. Her sound is summed up by the label as “160bpm+, ultra-emotional dream-tekno>neo-trance>space tracks. romantic/relentless, up/down, weary/wired. fed on gabber, dressed by juicy couture, watched over by paris hilton (mk1)”, and we’re inclined to agree.

The album feels scattershot in its make-up, as opposed to following a strict concept or sound, and that’s half the fun in giving it a rinse, as she hops from brisk, Nebuchadnezzar-on-MDMA vibes in ‘Lucidity’ to the wigged-out hardcore tekno barn dancer ‘Dare to Dream’ via the wiggly, thizzy propulsion system of ‘Aquarius Rising’, thru top lip-sniffing trance breaks on ‘Escape(ist)’, to work shades away from Evian Christ’s emosh trance on ‘I Don’t Want to Feel’, and the contemporary Copenhagen trance of ‘Time Robot’.