The road to Alive is officially complete. Almost three years ago to the day, the words “debut album” had lent themselves to a Gryffin resume that had originated in the early 2010s with a bundle of SoundCloud-hosted remixes that decisively put his name on the electronic map. And as time winds back up to present day, Gryffin has now fittingly dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s on his long-awaited Gravity successor on the morning of what he deems to be the single most momentous showing of his career: a sold-out date with Los Angeles State Historic Park.

But how we ultimately reached November 4 felt like a moment that’d been brewing not too longer after Gravity. Even amid the world’s abrupt halt during the pandemic, a steady stream of originals set loose in the time following his debut album had formed, and there seemed to be an bubbling sentiment—especially when he alluded to a “new chapter” in late 2021—that another full-length Gryffin project was going to be a matter of when, not if. Little did we know that Gryffin had already begun planting the Alive seeds exactly a year after Gravity and two years prior to its eventual landing. And “Safe With Me” with Audrey Mika would go on to become the first of 11 pre-album deliveries—with 17 total tracks making up the Alive index—beside “Best Is Yet To Come” (with Kyle Reynolds), “You Were Loved” (with OneRepublic), “Alive” (with Calle Lehmann), “Caught Up” (with Olivia O’Brien), “Reckless” (with MØ), “Colors” (with Blanke and Eyelar), “Woke Up In Love” (with Kygo and Calum Scott), “Scandalous” (with Tinashe), and the “Tie Me Down” follow-up with Elley Duhé, “Forever.”

It’s not a stretch of the imagination to say that Alive‘s rollout takes a near-identical path to Gravity, gradually giving a sizable chunk of the album its own deserved moment in the spotlight and allowing listeners to properly digest Gryffin’s vision in a piece-by-piece format. And on release day, there’s still six productions—seven for those that hadn’t gotten a chance to hear “Forever” a week earlier—left to turn over on streaming platforms, with the spine-tingling opening from his album tour’s live sets expectedly torching the way before seamlessly fades into the title track. And while there’s still plenty to be said about each and every one of Gryffin’s Alive previews, we’ll put a pause on that to touch upon the unfamiliar corner of the album.

If Alive‘s feature lineup hadn’t already been overflowing with unions that bear an A-list branding, its tracklist is sees the likes of Matt Maeson, salem ilese, Au-Ra, and Maia Wright stand by fellow singer-songwriters like OneRepublic, MØ, Tinashe, and more. And those first two names—respectively displayed on “Lose Your Love” and “Glitch In the Simulation”—lyrically back Gryffin’s subtle foray into drum ‘n’ bass, a welcome entrance into a side of dance music that he’d yet to put his production hands on. Then comes “Evergreen” with Au-Ra. And those that follow Dancing Astronaut in any capacity on social media are likely well aware that this was the Alive cut we’d been longing for the most following its grand unveiling at Bonnaroo and subsequent appearance during his first true tour date at The Brooklyn Mirage, and its official form justifies why. And the concluding part of the newest Alive additions sees a second Gravity reunion take place, with Gryffin and Maia Wright giving “Body Back” a worthy sequel just as “Tie Me Down” had received the week prior.

Stepping back to view it in its entirety—from track one all the way down to track 17—Alive takes a natural, effortless expansion from where Gryffin creatively stood three years ago on Gravity. Toppling what Gryffin accomplished in 2019 was a Mount Everest-level climb and it’d simply be unjust to compare the two bodies of work, but Alive grandly ushers in his next era while Gryffin juggles both holding true to his classic melodic form and also weaving in and out of genres that include everything from melodic bass to dance-pop to house to drum ‘n’ bass. Stream all of Gryffin’s long-awaited sophomore album below.

Featured image: Juliana Bernstein

Tags: alive, au-ra, audrey mika, callee lehmann, calum scott, Elley Duhe, Eyelar, Gryffin, Kyle Reynolds, maia wright, mø, onrepublic, ryan tedder

Categories: Music