Steeped in nostalgic electronic influences and luscious female vocals, ‘Hands Up’ marks the latest EP by Tel Aviv-based producer and creative Sonic Pulses. Written during months of turbulent personal happenings, the record does a good job of borrowing from a plethora of influences from a few different decades, be it Daft Punk-esque disco-leaning explorations or leftfield trance trips.
Across five like-minded tracks, listeners are offered a rather hypnotic blend of trance, techno and house, material that’s kinetic and electrifying, but also reflective and expansive. Beyond the music, ‘Hands Up’ carries an incredible amount of meaning, with the record being written in tribute to the producer’s own sister, who died during the tragic events of October 7th. Her loss hit Sonic Pulses very hard, and music provided a safe refuge, an artistic box where he could cry in peace and try to seek a way forward.
Delving deeper into the complex and purposeful life period that eventually led to ‘Hands Up’, Sonic Pulses explains: “I locked myself in the studio for a year… had to isolate myself after crazy 15 years of nightlife and drug abuse, plus c-PTSD from 2005. My life is dedicated to music; that’s the only thing I get up to and go to sleep for.” We appreciate such radical honesty: for Sonic Pulses, music served as a cathartic tool to process intense grief and a painful past.
Recommended! Discover ‘Hands Up’ now: