NEON DREAMS is the debut album from London-based producer and Night Slugs co-founder James Connolly, aka L-Vis 1990. Across 15-tracks and 55-minutes, James distils a lifetime’s worth of musical influences and experiences while conveying the story of the last 12 months in his life through vocalists Samantha Lim and Javeon McCarthy. 2010’s “Forever You” single, which featured McCarthy, was a key jumping off point in establishing the overall vibe of Neon Dreams. The track features here as a slimmed down, 3.5 minute version. This length represents approximately the average track-duration across the entire LP, and is indicative of James’s long-held desire to proffer an album in very much the traditional sense of the term. Further vocal turns come from co-founder of the Sound Pellegrino imprint and French hip-hop outfit TTC, Teki Latex.

Sessions in Paris alongside Para One and New York with Nick Hook were also hugely significant in the recording of Neon Dreams (both lend additional production on the album), enabling James to mentally zero-in on this fresh direction he’d been further exploring through remixes for Cassius and Round Table Knights earlier this year. The production process was further aided by self-imposed restraints that James had placed upon himself at the outset: all of the sounds on Neon Dreams were composed exclusively using hardware gear, taking in an array of classic synthesizers along with the Roland TR-707 drum machine which features on each of the 15 tracks.

As is the case with James’s outlook in general, Neon Dreams uses house music as a platform from which to explore a multitude and styles and textures. These veer from the Franco-flourishes and full Javeon McCarthy vocal of first single “Lost in Love”, to vivid narrative numbers like “Play It Cool”, the darker recesses of “The Beach”, through to late-summer slow-jam “One More Day”. Although during the process of recording Neon Dreams James extended himself far beyond his initial idea to produce a ‘futuristic Chicago house record’, what does remain is a level of honesty and openness that was so symptomatic of house music’s formative years in the city. By distancing himself from the functional requisites of club music, Neon Dreams sees James revelling in unbridled artistic expression.

“In the late nineties the likes of Daft Punk, Chemical Brothers and Basement Jaxx defined the art of the dance music album,” says James. “Their albums transcended time and any musical fads, but most of all they took you on a journey. Creating Neon Dreams for me was about recapturing these elements that made me fall in love with dance music all those years ago.”

NEON DREAMS is released on PMR Records on September 26th.

Track List:

01. Vague Flashes ft. Corey Black
02. Forever You ft. Javeon McCarthy
03. The Beach
04. I Feel It
05. Play It Cool ft. Samantha Lim
06. Shy Light ft. Para One & Teki Latex
07. Cruisin’
08. Feel The Void ft. Para One & Teki Latex
09. Illusions
10. Tonight
11. Here With You ft. Para One & Teki Latex
12. Lost In Love ft. Javeon McCarthy
13. True Romance
14. One More Day ft. Javeon McCarthy & Julio Bashmore
15. Neon Dreams

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