Having an eclectic musical vision turns you upside down and inside out. One minute, you’re happily motoring on catchy pop, with your inner compass navigating you, more or less, in the radio direction, before suddenly stepping into an emotional electronic dance field and veering completely off into the club course. “Night Of Passion” ft. Lokka, is the second in the double single release by Producer Lyndon Rivers. After the full-on pop flavored “In Your Smile”, Rivers switches his sound design 360 degrees, with the female vocals of Lokka, and an absolutely minimal techno based beat. It’s a vibrant, eclectic mix with Lokka’s voice at its heart; a voice that is intrinsic to the success of the whole thing as she spins from restless ramblings to profound, heartfelt statements about the situations she holds dear.
The track coolly balances resonant synths with an urgent dancefloor-ready beat, as if the two sides of Lyndon River’s artistic personalities are finally engaged in conversation. Featuring a sultry female vocal that cushions its fall on a bed of crystalline synth notes, it plays like a series of hedonistic indulgences.
As the music draws breath, Rivers’, low bass resonates, like a declaration from the heavens. Steadily, the pressing beat and whirring synths give it extra wind before a flurry of punched pads rains down upon it.
“Night Of Passion” ft. Lokka has an almost two-step swing feel with jaunty keys and hi-hats accompanying Lokka’s conversational croon. That is until Lyndon Rivers playfully empties his whole bag of production tricks as crackling atmospherics fuse with expansive synths and a driving kick drum.
Energetic hi-hats coupled with the rhythmic pulse of a house-styled bassline gives the song a certain mid-’90s dance feel. There’s always been an element of seriousness to Rivers’ music, but there’s also a playfulness, a distance. He can present himself as a slithering dancefloor monster while also giving off the sense that he’s some studio nerd, trying to come up with the exact right synth tone.
That divide — between the sound and the persona that Lyndon Rivers puts forward and the actual human that, at least as far as I can tell, he is — has only grown with time. Rivers’ humanity shines through in ways that seem unintentional. “Night Of Passion” ft. Lokka is absolutely full of huge, nasty grooves, but there’s something almost wholesome about it.
The interplay between electronic sounds and human emotion continues to be a key tenet of Lyndon Rivers’ work, as he imbues mechanical sounds – synths, programmed drums, with a well of feeling thanks to the deep, affected vocals he features.
Enigmatic lyricism abounds through the track with proclamations like “Hold me in your arms, all I need is one more night of passion,” and “No time for us, but I hope somehow we’ll end up together.” Disguised as smooth electro, it’s catchy as hell, and it’s the romantic vocals and clean lyrics that keep it from falling the wrong side of erotic.
In all, “Night Of Passion” ft. Lokka is as rhythmic and untethered as you might expect. There are moments of singular genius that can only come from a committed synth tinkerer like Lyndon Rivers.
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