This week’s deep house lives between the dancefloor and the drive home. Warm analogue textures, driving grooves and real emotional weight, music built to move your body and stir something quieter at the same time. Headphones on, lights low, let it pull you under.
The Ocean Beneath – 44
Driving progressive grooves meet an emotive analogue glow on “44”, a gorgeous, hypnotic collaboration between The Ocean Beneath and err: rawr. Perfect music for late-night drives.
Here’s one built for the small hours. “44” is a hypnotic, synth-heavy collaboration between The Ocean Beneath and err: rawr. It’s all layered driving progressive house grooves beneath a warm, emotive analogue palette that recalls Tinlicker and Franky Wah. The balance is what sells it: organic flow on one side, crisp electronic production on the other. And the sound world? Ooft, it slaps. Can you imagine driving up the M4 at midnight to this. It builds patiently, produced bass-heavy, and that gives it a real pull. Immersive, atmospheric and euphoric. A proper grower.
The Ocean Beneath is the project of Leeds-based producer Matt Burnside, who crafts experimental progressive house with nods to classic 80s records and the heart of 90s house and trance. He’s built a solid following since 2019 through a steady run of releases and collaborations with talented musicians and vocalists, and this BBC Introducing-backed single shows exactly why. There’s a real ear for atmosphere here, a producer who understands that the best dance music makes you feel as much as move. One to keep on your radar.
Reinhout – Not Enough
Sitting between nostalgia, sadness and hope, “Not Enough” is a superb, deeply emotive deep-house cut from Reinhout, dance music that makes you feel deep inside
Some dance tracks aim for the body, this one goes for the chest too. “Not Enough” lives in that delicate space between nostalgia, sadness and hope. It’s a bit of a a sonic landscape that invites both movement and reflection in the same breath, and it’s produced like an absolute dream. A kind of rare cut that works as well at 2am on a club floor as it does alone at home with the lights off. Which is exactly where I am right now, and that blend of analogue warmth with digital precision really is immersive. Evocative, atmospheric and profound. And the synth work? Wow.
Reinhout is the moody, introspective alter ego of Oslo producer Stijn Reinhout Firmin Viaene, who also makes sun-drenched soundscapes under the name Firmin. Where Firmin captures summery warmth, Reinhout delves into autumn’s contemplative depths, drawing on boundary-pushers like Hior Chronik, Christian Löffler, Bonobo and Kiasmos. Working meticulously from his home studio, he’s spent this project exploring just how wide electronic music’s emotional spectrum can stretch, and “Not Enough” is an evocative precursor to his debut album. Exciting stuff, especially since we hear that there’s also live shows in the works. A striking new voice from the Nordic scene. More of this please.