Deep House: Charles A.D. - Dry Flower (2021)

73 / 100

Dry Flower offers an ambitious and diverse deep house journey, with several gems that shine amid its lengthy tracklist. A solid pick for deep house/techno enthusiasts.

Dry Flower marks the 12th release in the digital Bandcamp catalog of Umé Records (梅レコード), a Tokyo-based label. The label describes its focus as ambient music like Sachi Kobayashi’s works, so I eagerly grabbed all their free releases, hoping for pure ambient offerings from the uniquely exclusive Japanese scene. But, well … I was off the mark. Charles A.D.’s Dry Flower leans more toward deep house.

Like Brevyn’s Seahorses, Dry Flower and all the album covers in Umé Records’ catalog adopt a vaporwave-inspired style, using geometric cutouts of circles, triangles, and squares. The September 2021 album itself is quite massive, featuring 22 tracks, which admittedly left me overwhelmed while reviewing.

Whereas Brevyn offered a more relaxed atmosphere, Charles A.D. brings greater variety, ranging from mellow cuts to upbeat grooves such as “Systema,” “Goodness,” and “Everything.” Tracks like “Day Light” and “Outdated” lean funky, while “Sanzu River” unleashes some rather noisy tones. “Psycho Color” stood out as the catchiest melody to my ears which is perfect for dancing. Meanwhile, the tenth and longest track, “Wish in the River,” alongside “Fall In” and “Heat Haze,” showcases waves of ambient and synthesizer textures without drums, making them the strongest candidates for my personal playlist.

Even if it wasn’t what I initially expected, Charles A.D. still delivers several standout tracks worth enjoying. Highly recommended for fans of deep house and techno.

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