Ron Trent

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.
For proof, check the five tremendous tracks on part two. There’s the AM radio-ready warmth, guitar-flecked looseness, and eyes-closed bliss of ‘Just Another Love Song’, where Trent’s own multi-tracked vocals catch the ear, the slow-motion, head-nodding deep space bliss of ‘Juice’ and alternative Balearic love song ‘And Fly Away’.
- Part two of the vinyl edition also includes two superb collaborations. Fellow Rush Hour artist Lars Bartkuhn lends his virtuoso guitar skills to ‘Street Wave’, a future house classic laden with nods to jazz-funk and fusion, while regular collaborator Harry Dennis (best known for his work as part of early Chicago house outfit Jungle Wonz) adds a poetic and emotion-filled spoken word vocal to the equally inspired ‘Her’.