Bleu Clair crowns breakthrough year on flawless six-sided EP, ‘Prelude’
We might’ve already crowned our breakout artist of the year, but don’t think for a second that Bleu Clair’s name wasn’t brought up in our original reflection on who it should be. Not to restate the obvious but 2021 has amounted to nothing short of a career-defining run for an artist we believed was on the cusp of greatness when adding him to Dancing Astronaut‘s Artists to Watch in 2021, and Bleu Clair is putting the final touches on a historic 12-month period that’s seen him travel across North America and make his awaited festival debut at EDC Las Vegas in between one superlative release after the next. And as if Bleu Clair’s year wasn’t already overflowing with win upon win, he’s now toppling on what may be the biggest one of them all, delivering his most expansive body of work to date, Prelude.
Up until this point, Bleu Clair’s extended release efforts have only stretched as far as his four-legged Do My Thing EP in 2019, and it was only fitting he took it a step further to continue to corroborate our claim that he’s next in line to be a presiding name in house music. Prelude hits the nail on its title’s head, pulling together a sum of six tracks—including three previously dispersed heaters in “Have Me All” with Jelita, “Amani” with Jargen, and his Teza Sumendra-paired original “Hyperspace” from the end of November—as Bleu Clair sets the forecast for 2022 to be another oceanic ascent for him, equipping the early holiday package on Insomniac Records with three more gems. From tribal-imbued thematics on “Play Jana” to a Jakarta-meets-Latin America intercontinental cross on “El Pasado,” Prelude rigs a 360-degree expo of Bleu Clair’s tech-house staying power and means to reengineer his creativity every single time he opens FL Studio. Prelude‘s most eye-catching cut comes towards its tracklist finale, with Bleu Clair unexpectedly and mouthwateringly roping in a fellow Dancing Astronaut Artist to Watch in 2021 in Cheyenne Giles as the two develop instantaneous “Chemistry” and effortlessly link their individualized house lanes to provide the EP with another collaborative gold mine.
Stream all six tracks from Bleu Clair’s year-ending release below
Featured image: Alex Estrada
Categories: Music