Belief (album By Belief)
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''Belief'' is the debut studio album by
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based duo Belief, released on July 17, 2022, through
Lex Records Lex Records is a British independent record label based in Camden, London, England. Style Lex has a varied musical output. Most releases are alternative hip hop, alternative rock or electronic. The label works with a small group of artists. ...
.


Recording

''Belief'' was recorded by electronic music producer Bryan Hollon and drummer Stella Mozgawa over a period of five years beginning with
jam session A jam session is a relatively informal musical event, process, or activity where musicians, typically instrumentalists, play improvised solos and vamp over tunes, drones, songs, and chord progressions. To "jam" is to improvise music without exte ...
s in Eric Wareheim's studios in 2016. Hollon told
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that the recording process was unusual for both of them, "really what we were inspired by was that kind of early '90s acid house scene, which a lot of times that was one or two people with a bunch of machines hooked into each other playing live, because there really wasn’t a good way to track things in that era separately" On album track "Dreams" Mozgawa played live
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,
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and percussion, over the programmed drum machines, On "Wot" Mozgawa played the main atonal synthline on an Oberheim synthesiser, then Hollon added further instrumentation. Speaking to
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, Hollon described the recording of album track "Ulu", "The pad loop was the foundation and the addition of the
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bass line brought me back to an era of music we both love. Once the improvised tracks were laid down live, we went back and added a drum break played by Stella and I added a bass guitar."


Critical reception

''Belief'' received a positive review from Bandcamp Daily where it was 'Album of the Day', and they described it as "The sibilant bleeps and murky acid basslines that were a staple for LFO find themselves reincarnated via Mogzawa and Hollon’s productions." At
BrooklynVegan ''BrooklynVegan'' is an American online music magazine founded in 2004 by David Levine. The company is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, United States and originally focused on vegan food and the music community in and around New York City, ...
where it was 'Album of the Week' and made their July 'Albums of the Year So Far' list, it was described as "an album that is a wonderful tribute to a time, place and person, but also a killer record in its own right, not to mention a lot of fun, and it's loaded with bleep-y bangers." In a positive review
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described the album ranging between track with "radiant expansions and contractions" and tracks where "claustrophobia kicks in with
Drexciya Drexciya was an American electronic music duo from Detroit, Michigan, consisting of James Stinson (1969–2002) and Gerald Donald. Career The majority of Drexciya's releases were in the style of dance-floor oriented electro, punctuated with e ...
intensity".
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named "Ulu" as 'Today's Top Tune' on April 22, 2022.
BrooklynVegan ''BrooklynVegan'' is an American online music magazine founded in 2004 by David Levine. The company is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, United States and originally focused on vegan food and the music community in and around New York City, ...
called "Wot" an "absolute banger".
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described "I Want To Be" as "a skittery instrumental that truly evokes the early rave era, both in its hard breakbeats and its zonked-out astral tone."


Track listing


References

{{Authority control 2022 debut albums Boom Bip albums Lex Records albums