Dan Guidance: Freedom of Movement

In our recent interview with Drum & Bass wunderkind Dan Guidance, I made the bold claim that he is currently “the greatest artist making music in the world today”.

This is the kind of statement that a) sounds hyperbolic and b) causes people to debate you when you meet. It wasn’t intended to cause either of those reactions, but was instead a genuine belief that I have actually held for some time.

Another side effect is, now that Dan Guidance has released his new album, he has an awful lot to live up to. Releasing a series of EPs is one thing, they can be recorded and released quickly and all the tracks on an EP can sound cohesive and follow a theme, but this is more difficult over an album.

So it was with equal amounts trepidation and eager anticipation that I approached Freedom Of Movement.

The first thing that strikes me about the album is that having a longer time frame to play with Has freed Dan up to experiment with form more and, as a result, Freedom Of Movement is expansive in its range of sounds, textures and genres, a situation that the album’s title itself reflects.

Freedom Of Movement is allowed to wander away from Drum & Bass convention and take in other sounds and influences and so it never sounds cliched or repetitive over its 18 tracks and almost two hours. It is an album that keeps the listener on their toes, unable to anticipate where it will take them next.

Dan Guidance Interview

This is a fact that is demonstrated on the album’s first track, the lush, ambient My Heart, a slow and soothing start to the album. Already we are being dealt a curveball, as most DnB albums would elect to start off with a banger, but Dan Guidance is setting out his varied stall from the outset. My Heart is a gentle tune that puts me in mid slightly of Craig Armstrong’s This Love, in feel at least, and would not sound out of place being played as the sun set in front of Ibiza’s Café Del Mar.

A piano riff also starts off second track Ripples, but the tempo is faster and some driving Drum & Bass rhythms soon kick in. Ripples is classic Dan Guidance, in that it is upbeat and still smooth, it rises and falls and has hooks and melody to spare. It is one of those songs that works its way into your subconscious and becomes an unlikely earworm.

Daydream is another instant classic Dan Guidance track, with a sensual disembodied female voice providing the song’s focus, while smooth, skittering liquid beats move the song along. Typically, there is a lot going on in the song, with sparse guitar notes adding atmosphere and an almost jazz flourish.

Fourth track Synthetique follows on nicely from the theme set above, with a more keyboard centric Liquid Drum & Bass tune. Here the vocals are sampled and chopped up, providing only a hint of a lyrics, yet still providing the song’s melody. Again there is a lot going on under the bonnet of this song, with keyboard riffs vying against each other and creating a multilayered sound that still has an eye on the dancefloor.

Too Far Away is another dancefloor filler, with interesting choral samples over the top of a busy drum beat. Piano is again to the fore and it becomes clear that Dan Guidance’s main forte is providing a deep melodiousness as several riffs come together and complement each other, creating a sound that is somehow greater than the sum of its parts. This is clever stuff.

Track six, I Want More Life, takes us into Dubstep territory, as syncopated beats and sharp snare sounds power the song and discordant bleeps square off against more tasteful piano riffs. Again it seems like these sounds shouldn’t work together, but they conspire to create a track that has some of the angular charm of early Warp records era tracks, such as Autechre and B12.

By now we should be expecting anything to happen next on this incredible album, but the slamming electro of I Am A Robot take us by surprise yet again. A busy, ragged electro keyboard riff and a dirty b-line make this song a real standout track, but all this is done without losing the modernity that  Freedom Of Movement carries with it. This is no backward looking retro homage, but a modern take on the electro songs that we can imagine a young Dan Guidance cutting his teeth on.

Alex Paterson Interview

Freedom Of Movement then calms things with the aptly titled Slow Down, where vocal treated with huge amounts of echo entreats us to do just that, to slow down, something that is easy to do listening to this. I find myself massively impressed at the way Dan Guidance can turn his hand to so many different styles of electronic music and still sound at the absolute top of his game. Slow Down would have been a firm favourite at the after club chillout sessions we used to hold in the 90s, if only we were lucky enough to have had it then.

Use Your Imagination picks things up again, while still steering clear of Drum & Bass convention. Deep sub bass and off kilter rhythms are the mainstay of the song and again, floating female vocal snippets provide a melodic counterpart. A song that is equally easy to dance to as it is to chill to.

Female vocals are also key to Run With Me as we head back into Liquid territory. Scurrying drums with lots of work on the provide the beats, while a serene vocal keeps things civil. Perhaps it is these conflicting styles that lay at the heart of a Dan Guidance song, satisfying separate parts of our consciousness at once. This trick is further demonstrated on Above The Clouds, as angelic vocals and frantic drums come together once more. The song rises and falls and again works its way into your soul.

As soon as I saw the title I’ll Rise, I wondered if would connect with the Maya Angelou poem of the same name. It does, although this is held in reserve until the song’s end. Until then, I’ll Rise gives us touches of jazz basslines and piano riffs, lush orchestration and more killer rhythms. The song finishes with a powerful quote from the Angelou poem, “You may write me down in history with your bitter, twisted lies, you may trod me in the very dirt but still, like dust, I’ll rise.” Powerful stuff.

Too Far Gone is more classic Liquid Drum & Bass and one that will feature in my playlists and mixes for some time to come. A rolling, insistent synth line provides a counter melody to the vocal refrain and the whole thing is dancey and catchy as hell.

The Inside starts off with ambient keyboard swooshes before harsh Dubstep-ish drumbeats kick in and almost overpower the song. The drums sound disjointed and seem to have little in common with the rest of the song and again we are treated to a dynamic that seems loaded with conflict, or at least no sense of resolution, but that nonetheless comes together to form a coherent whole. Maybe it’s just me, but The Inside seems ready for a host of remixes, as I imagine there is a lot that can be done with the song’s constituent parts, many ways in which it can be reimagined and reworked.

This out of kilter aesthetic is carried thorough into In The Beginning, along with further nods to 90s intelligent techno, as it was called at the time. Maybe this is Dan’s way of showcasing his influences and acknowledging his roots. Again this would not have sounded out of place in those post rave listening parties, possibly apart from the modernity of the production.

Orbital Interview

Off The Rails is nothing short of an absolute banger, as much as I am starting to hate that phrase. A fierce bass drum and insistent keyboard stabs rush the song along before a dirty, distorted bass line kicks in high in the mix and rattles the speakers. This is a song begging to be heard loud through club speakers, where the bass would hit you full in the chest and lift you off the dance floor.

After the frantic pace of the last few tracks, we are thankfully given some respite with the calmer, jazzy stylings of The Easy Life. Smooth sax sounds relax us, but without the BPM dropping, despite the comforting sounds of a saxophone, The Easy Life is still aimed at the feet.

At the end of such an extraordinary journey, I was hoping for something special to close the album, and I am not disappointed. It’s All Just Sound is an epic closer. A chilled voice talks to us about getting into a meditative state by closing our eyes and listening. Once we do, the smoothest Drum & Bass rhythms take us down a contemplative path, relaxing and energising us at the same time.

Freedom Of Movement is a simply astonishing album, one that ebbs and flows and refuses to sit still or to bow to convention. It is by turns calm, invigorating, fun, sensual and captivating. It is everything that is good about the current (very healthy) state of Liquid Drum & Bass and it marks Dan Guidance out as the genre’s leading light.

Any doubts I had about saddling him with hype are washed away by the sheer quality, adventurousness and depth on display here.

Freedom Of Movement is my album of the year, a further bold statement given some of the excellent records released in 2024.

If there is a better record this year than the latest one by Dan Guidance, chances are in will be by Dan Guidance.

Freedom of Movement is out now via Portal Recordings. Purchase from Bandcamp.