Houston's alchemist Illuminad is back with another gripping single. "Grip" is the most recent monthly installment in the artist's ambitious lifetime release campaign and has the potential to be the most hauntingly immersive yet.
Casting shadows from experimental electronica and psychedelic rock, "Grip" slowly and methodically gobbles it up. A deep sub-bass rumble and distorted synth textures send a cavernous soundscape into view from the track's opening seconds, while cuckoo clock keyboard work and sensual psych-tinged guitar that appears to wail and whisper can also get-go. It's music you feel, designed to envelope your senses and pull you under. It is one of darkness and stickiness, as if fog were coming in over black water. It trembles. Everything is in a fine array, simultaneously washing, lulling, and coercing the listener neatly into line.
Illuminad, the one-man powerhouse behind this captivating project, has already started building his underground following since coming onto the music scene in 2020 with radio plays on College Underground Radio and Frost FM. But with "Grip," he's pushing the limits.