One of electronic music’s most exciting and original artists, Ross Harper, releases his striking and hypnotic masterpiece ‘The Dark Album’ on 31 October on City Wall Records, showcasing his varied sound palette and demonstrating why he has caught the attention of many leading DJs, including Laurent Garnier, Jennifer Cardini, Skream, Charlotte de Witte, Depeche Mode’s Martin L Gore, Kolsch, and John Digweed.
‘The Dark Album’ was influenced by Leftfield, Oliver Lieb, Luke Slater, and Drumcell but also the psychedelic hippie era of the 1960s and 70s. From 2012 to 2019 Ross Harper took 7 years “out” from listening to other people’s music, so he could solely focus on developing his own sound, and it is in this space that the tracks ‘The Dark Album’ were created. All of the album’s tracks have a different angle but each holds the same sense of beauty, power and stillness.
Ross Harper said: “I am rooted in the techno scene of London in the mid to late 90s. During these formative years I met a guy at an after party in Brixton. He told me he grew up in the jungle and the animals taught him how to do miracles. One morning at an after party, I saw him leap 7 feet in the air from standing, in that moment I was no longer in the kitchen of my mate’s house, but I found myself in a desert. In the middle distance I saw a group of cloaked figures performing a sacrificial ceremony against a curved stone. It was too much for my conscious mind and I brought myself back to the kitchen. Then followed 20 years of deep introspection, I went from an extravagant extroverted teenager to introvert obsessed with spirituality and electronic music. In 2019 I flipped again, that was my 3rd awakening, now I am an extroverted introvert. The tracks in The Dark Album were all produced during the isolated years of introspection.”
Ross Harper’s impressive and varied list of DJ supporters include Laurent Garnier, Depeche Mode’s Martin L Gore, Nemone (BBC 6 Music), John Digweed, Paula Tape, and Ben Malone (KISS FM). Ross released the acclaimed ‘Tower Of Light’ album in 2021 which was accompanied by specially commissioned artwork from internationally renowned artist, Iva Troj and continued his ‘Ambient Girl’ thread of work but 2022 brings something totally new.