With their fifth studio album, “Inhale/Exhale,” RÜFÜS DU SOL has confirmed their leadership in the field while reinventing what electronic music might be in 2024. Published under Rose Avenue and Reprise Records, this 15-track odyssey offers evidence of the band’s development as artists and people. The album provides an unmatched experience that is both very personal and broadly resonant.
Tyrone Lindqvist, Jon George, and James Hunt, better known as RÜFÜS DU SOL, have evolved since their 2010 debut. Though they have stretched the envelope of their sound with every album, “Inhale/Exhale” is their most ambitious and sophisticated effort to produce yet. Factors evident in the music’s depth and complexity, the album emerged from a period of notable personal changes for the band members and a reinterpreted creative workflow.
Inhale/Exhale in RÜFÜS DU SOL own words
This record is very special to us. We’re incredibly proud of it and of what it represents for us as a group. We wrote a lot of music together for this project, and decided early on that we were trying to create something more expansive than we have previously shared. It’s crazy to think we’ve been collaborating on this project together for almost fifteen years, to know that we’re five albums deep now and we’re as excited about making music together now as when we started. Shout out to all the fans who support us, this collaboration wouldn’t be possible without you. – RÜFÜS DU SOL
Let’s carefully investigate every song, untangling the tapestry of sound and feeling RÜFÜS DU SOL has spun.
Inhale/Exhale in our words
The first song on the album, Inhale, functions as a metaphor for the trip ahead as well as an introduction. Starting with the faint sounds of a little brook, it progressively gets louder like a rushing waterfall. This natural development reflects the change of the band and prepares the audience for the vast sonic environment to arise.
From the opening, “Lately” shows up with a mesmerizing beat that doesn’t quite relieve the tension accumulated in “Inhale.” This restraint is excellent; it keeps listeners interested and yet produces an unexpectedly soothing effect. The clean, sophisticated production here highlights RÜFÜS DU SOL’s ability to evoke mood without overwhelming the senses.
With “Breathe,” the album veers deeper and into more enigmatic seas. Here the baseline is rich and seductive, matched by dreamy vocals floating above the mix. The techno-inspired components strewn throughout show the band’s readiness to expand their sound into uncharted territory while preserving its unique melodic quality.
“Music is Better” explodes with an irresistible vitality that is hard to control. One of the album’s top hits, it makes sense why the band landed their first #1 at Dance Radio. Here, the appealing main subject blossoms completely and captures a celebration and gladness.
RÜFÜS DU SOL exhibits their experimental aspect with Levitating, a downtempo track including unusual drum rhythms. The percussive parts take the front stage and produce an interesting and danceable rhythmic playground. This is the ideal illustration of how the band strikes a mix between accessibility and creativity.
“Break My Love” is unique in its dreamy, personal quality. The songs lure you in close only to burst into a drop calling for movement.
Things calm down as we approach the middle part of the album, allowing for introspection. With In The Moment a peaceful environment is created by soft arpeggios entwining with a simple, mesmerizing baseline. This song seems as an appeal to be present, to really occupy the area the music produced.
“New York“: this down-tempo work is a cinematic trip. You are carried to a loft above Central Park while you listen, seeing from a bubble of peace the anarchy of the city. The poignant ambiance created by the sluggish beats against the evocative voices precisely captures the mixed beauty of urban life.
Starting with soft beats, “The Life” progressively picks in intensity to reflect the themes of love and resiliency found in the lyrics. In the story of the album, this song seems as a turning point—a moment of strength and validation. Here Lindqvist’s vocals shine, delivering words like “No matter where the road takes me / There’s nothing in this world / That could break me” with a clearly felt passion.
RÜFÜS DU SOL treads more clearly into more openly electronic space with Pressure. Organic rhythms and experimental beats produce a dynamic, throbbing soundtrack that highlights the band’s adaptability.
With Fire / Desire the percussion investigation carries on, with hypnotic synth lines grounded in down-tempo beats. The music reflects the dichotomy in the title, therefore generating an absolutely fascinating tension between restriction and release.
The synths and piano lines become more open and ethereal as the album draws to an end with Edge of the Earth. Both sonically and emotionally, one feels stretching outside and pushing boundaries.
Standing at the Gates tracks the energy down while accentuating the memories. It seems like a moment of introspection on the road we have traveled over the album, a stop before the last ones. The exquisite creation here makes room for meditation, a required respite before the last push.
The penultimate song, “Belong,” features dreamy harmonies and wonderful synth work. Reiterating the connection to the music as well as to each other, it captures the main ideas of love and belongingness of the album.
“Exhale“: The album finishes with a song fitting its title from the beginning. Romantic tones and soft harmonies help one to feel released, to let go. The trip ends beautifully and cathartically, leaving listeners feeling complete and rejuvenated.
How the album was born and its meaning
RÜFÜS DU SOL has a great capacity in “Inhale/Exhale,” to strike a mix between refinement and accessibility. Every track provides a deep, layered soundscape that honors repeated listening; the production quality is flawless. The band’s development is clear in their enlarged musical palette, which keeps their unique voice while absorbing influence from all around the electronic music scene.
This record distinguishes itself in emotional resonance. Though “Inhale/Exhale” feels like their most personal and mature work to date, RÜFÜS DU SOL has always been exceptional in producing songs that speak to the heart. Weaved throughout are the ideas of love, development, and self-discovery, therefore producing a story that is both quite personal and generally relevant.
From “Inhale” to “Exhale,” the album’s arrangement captures a whole trip, a musical representation of the breathing cycle. This idea gives the listening experience more complexity and motivates interaction with the album as a whole instead of as a set of separate songs.
The backstory of RÜFÜS DU SOL album, Inhale/Exhale
One should consider the background of the “Inhale/Exhale” creation. Written amid a worldwide epidemic that changed the music business and during a moment of major personal change for the band members, the album feels like both a reaction to and a haven from the difficulties of previous years. The album’s coherent yet varied sound clearly shows the fresh creative flow indicated in the press release.
Tracks like “The Life” and “Belong,” which address themes of resilience, connection, and finding one’s place in a world undergoing change, have even more poignancy from this background.
RÜFÜS DU SOL New Album Inhale Exhale picture
What we have learned from Inhale/Exhale?
“Inhale/Exhale” provides a moment of oneness and clarity in a world that too frequently seems fractured and chaotic. It reminds us of the beauty of common events, the need for connection, and the healing ability of music. Listeners who release the last notes of this album experience rejuvenation and enthusiasm for what RÜFÜS DU SOL will produce going forward.
The album is a voyage, a meditation, a celebration rather than only a collection of songs. This is a piece that requires to be experienced complete, each track building on the next to produce a harmonic and emotionally relevant totality.
We consider “Inhale/Exhale” a lighthouse signaling the way ahead and reminding us of the emotional foundation of the genre as the terrain of electronic music changes. This album resonates with the human experience in all its complicated beauty, pulsates with emotional energy, and breaths life. Basically, it’s RÜFÜS DU SOL at its best, asking everyone to inhale deeply and let the music help them to lose themselves.
The post RÜFÜS DU SOL fifth studio album ‘Inhale/Exhale’: Review appeared first on The Groove Cartel.
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