Lonely Girl

By: Oceanlab
Label: Anjunabeats
Written by: MarcoB
Rating: 8/10


The latest single to be selected from Oceanlab’s Sirens of the Sea album, Lonely Girl sees the Above & Beyond trio using Justine Suissa’s vocals in a housier setting, with a soft, rolling bassline and warm melodies right from the offset. A stabbing little riff accompanies the main chorus, with extra harmonies also introduced. 

This isn’t one of the most memorable Oceanlab releases… until Ronski Speed works his magic, adding a minimal edge to the beats, and throwing in some extra percussion along with a crunchy bassline while throwing in a dubby sample of the vocal from the offset. A jutting riff adds intensity, with dark effects swishing about as the vocal samples build up. At around the two minute mark he releases the main vocal with the dark bassline lurking menacingly in the background, with other static building up like stormclouds in a monsoon. A piano solo adds some respite before the dark riffs return and the steely beats crackle back into life. The warm vocals really compliment the cold percussion making this the standout track of the release.

Gareth Emery also flexes his studio muscles, and in fact his version made it onto the recent Sirens remix album. GTR adds some swooshing effects and filters the melodies while fattening up the bassline. The main riff gets nicely worked over too, and while an improvement on the original it just lacks some of the fizz of Mr Speed.