Dennis Sheperd’s been on a journey, and it’s been one he’s documented album-by-album each step of the way. Through title and theme, ‘A Tribute To Life’, ‘Fight Your Fears’, ‘Find The Sunrise’ and 2022’s ‘Onwards // Upwards’ have all touched on, alluded to or out-and-out addressed the area of mental wellbeing. It goes without saying that it’s a topic as close and personal to Dennis as any. So much so that it pushed him to co-found Soundcation – the music production retreat specifically geared towards budding producers, and led by artists like Jerome Isma-Ae, Protoculture and Dennis himself. With his newest album however, Sheperd’s widening the lens and focusing on a next-step challenge. After ‘Onwards // Upwards’ hinted at a life being taken more in its stride, it’s time to release ‘Release’
Dennis elaborates: “’Release’s title carries a deep personal significance for me, delivering a message I feel strongly about. We all grow up shaped by certain environments, rules, and expectations, but without questioning them, we may never truly live out our full potential. Now is the time to break free, shed the limitations, and open your mind to life in its purest and most complete form. This is the essence of what I’ve tried to do here, venturing into more sub-genres of electronic dance music than ever before. I hope you get as much pleasure from listening to it as I had making it!”
As with Dennis’s previous longforms, ‘Release’ is near universally a collaborative affair, for which a handful of his ‘Onwards // Upwards’ cohorts return. Among them is regular sergeant-at-arms George Jema, co-producing on the cool ‘n’ breezy saxophony of ‘Illusion Of Time’. Koni Blank meanwhile helps add the pixelated-beats and piano tints to ‘Majestic’, while RELEJI’s synths reign (and rain down on!) ‘You & Me’. Alongside Freak E Beatz, Katty Heath strikes a wonderfully pensive note on ‘Afraid To Feel’, while Freak returns two tracks later on the irrepressible ‘Rhythm Taking Over’.
In order to “venture into more sub-genres than ever before” though, Dennis has a predominantly new album tribe in tow. ‘Afterlight’ (which spotlights the Milanese tones of Alessia Labate) lets the bass bounce and good vibes flow, as does the album’s midpoint, where Dennis and KITA team up for ‘Outer Space’. More transcendental, ‘Swim’ assumes a progressive stance, while ‘Release’s theme could hardly be better served than by ‘Liberation’s hail. One track later, Cari is starting to see through those ‘Perfect Lies’, while ‘Release’ approaches its finale moments with ‘Resonance’, which has a trancier profile. Having topped the album with the foundationally atmospheric ‘Morning Glory’, Dennis tails it with its jaunting, title-says-it-all closeout, ‘Epilog’.
An album (and artist!) on a mission, ‘Release’ leads by example, breaking free from previous constraints, while subtly encouraging all to transcend the boundaries along with it. The album’s available wherever all good music is sold or streamed [blackhole.lnk.to/release].