The interplanetary bass music producer Au5 and the terrestrial vocal star Cristina Soto have come together to create a riveting and original four-song EP, Freefall, released through the Austin imprint Gravitas Recordings. Au5 has produced music at a prolific pace for years now, from neuro drum and bass to more melodic dubstep similar to the music of Seven Lions. Cristina Soto dropped her own debut album earlier in 2016 on Gravitas. Bass music junkies were introduced to her silky strong voice after Bassnectar remixed “One Thing”, produced by Gravitas label head Psymbionic and Maine’s own Of The Trees.
Soto’s powerful voice lends itself well to powerful bass music. Each song on “Freefall” would be a gem without vocals on account of Au5’s brilliant musical ideas and well-executed production. Bringing the human voice into the mix, and such an expressive voice at that, gives the robotic, space-age sounding EP a human tether, not to mention crossover appeal. She sings of emotional expression itself. “I need my occasional howling at the moon” wails Cristina on “Shock Diamond”, as the song crescendos into fluid drum and bass. “I’m only alive in the freefall” she cries on the title track. I’ve never been skydiving, well outside of a dream, anyway, but to listen to this EP with its abundant energy and beautiful scenery can give one the sensation of plummeting through colorful skies.
We’ve come to expect only the best in production from Au5, and he exceeds those expectations here. He weaves together the emotive note relationships of a grand piano or electronic keyboard with the subtle beauty of deep sub bass, and pairs soaring ethereal synth chords with the wet, dirty crashing lead melodies. The dichotomy between beautiful and ugly noise enraptures the listener on “Emergence”. One moment you’re flying through space on a rainbow super highway, and the next minute your space ship is being shredded molecule by molecule at the event horizon of a black hole.
An Au5 remix of “Emergence”, a variation on his own original, provides an epic closing for the EP, the equivalent of a rock power ballad minus the cheese and plus the 21st century. “Gravitas” means “weighty” in Latin, and there is nothing here which does not live up to that description, from the breadth of Au5’s massive productions to the deeply-felt freedom of Cristina Soto’s vocals.
