Picking up where ’The Soul Messenger EP’ left off, Orlando Voorn returns to Fluid Funk with the first instalment in his upcoming twofold sonic journey, ‘Essence of House’. On the menu of this ambrosial quartet of tracks, Voorn has us going through an emotional rollercoaster of pure house vibes from the Chicago scene's heyday onward a future-ready daydream, unhinderedly hopeful and of the spaced-out cozy type, typical of what the Dutch-born, US-based producer has been championing for the past thirty years. Channeling energies and beaming them across the rooms with both divine soulfulness and laser-precise technique, Voorn seamlessly shifts gears between intergalactic escapism and rooftop loungin’ hedonism.

Snatching souls for breakfast, the title-track does exactly what’s written on the tin as it takes us on the smoothest ride down memory lane with its neon-splattered melody, filtered synths and laid-back groove lifting us off to a whole other dimension. Proper classic summer-boogie material sprinkled with that Voorn hallmarked glossiness. True to its name, ‘Ultrafunk’ goes full-on IDM-infused house mode and lets the groove run wild from start to finish. Somewhat packed with a tang of Californian sun at heart and rekindling that classic piano house flame to explosive effect, the track ebbs and flows between old-school disco and futuristic extravaganza, nimbly threading its way at the junction of all-out EBM and woozy, FX-laden loiterings.

Back to a more forward-pushing vibe, Voorn treats us to a serious showdown of future-facing electro jazz on ’To The Break of Dawn', seamlessly patching together ambient-oid atmospherics with virtuoso programming to create an immersive maelstrom of serene envelopes, glimmering harmonics and racing dynamics ready to uplift both your soul and body at once. Built around a more stripped-down bassy backbone and Afro-flavoured syncopations, ’Take My Hand’ engineers a perfect mix of intricate polyrhythms and sample-heavy house collagism, beautifully bridging the gap between acoustic and electronic elements. Lavish harp chords, static-filled keys, jazz-indebted drums, eerie vox and skittish funk riffs rolled into a 7 minute-long wonder.