Alexander Popov & Paul Oakenfold – Love You Back

70%%Overall Score


• Trance with mainstream progressive
• Louder kick that doesn’t conflict
• Not entirely inventive


It’s fun to see two-time Grammy nominated Paul Oakenfold, who also earned DJ mag awards (#1 in ‘97 and ‘98), with a career lasting more than twenty-five years, becoming rather more industrious in the Trance scene. His forthcoming album is all set to be released this year, which in turn makes me greatly curious about how the heavyweight decides to reinvent himself further.

In cohorts with a great collaborator such as Alexander Popov (yet another leading name from the scene), not to forget their previous synergies such as “With You” and “Angel”, there’s enough testimony available to their studio chemistry.

The fourth instalment of the successful collaborative efforts caught my attention: it was definitely time to observe these producers, who I admire even if my listening span doesn’t consist of Trance as much. “Love You Back” is out now on Interplay Records, owned by the Russian act and features appealing vocals from an uncredited songstress.

What I appreciated here is the attractive breakdown and the Progressive House-themed drop, where the structure emerges from a classical Trance to enter a modernist “2022” dimension, something akin to say, Garrix’s discography, if I had to draw parallels here. The kick comes off surprisingly loud for this kind of layout, although being amiable to the other elements! It follows a similar idea to “With You”, sans the unnecessary vocal chops. Certainly an improvement, if I had to say.

“Love You Back” is a delicate Progressive House idea that is enthused by the collective minds of Popov and Oakenfold, thus containing top-notch quality to the formula, yet falling short of being entirely original. The curse of mainstream Progressive is present more than ever, even if I commend results like this.

You can listen to “Love You Back” here:

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