English house producer Ross From Friends announced a serious career pivot in the closing weeks of 2024, signaling a shift away from the alias that had brought him so much notoriety into a new one as “Bubble Love.” After delivering an initial EP shortly after, the project continues with a fresh release, as Bubble Love just let loose “Lying In The Sand.”
Again capitalizing on simplistic, turn-of-the-century house trappings, “Lying In The Sand” finds the sunniest Bubble Love single to date, no less funky than he provided on his self-titled debut but quite a bit less distant than that material. He maintains a penchant for the off-kilter, with some animal SFX worked in alongside the more conventional production quirks utilized on this song. All the same, the high register vocals and unassailable groove do much of the heavy lifting in making this a dancefloor weapon.
“Lying In The Sand” Provides Crumbs For What Bubble Love May Mean Going Forward
This song obviously has more layers and depth, but dissection feels uniquely counterproductive given the road that led to Bubble Love for the English producer. His Ross From Friends catalog contained plenty of heady, emotional compositions already. So when he announces that the focus is a simple summer jam with a song like “Lying In The Sand,” we take him at his word.
On a more metatextual level, the album cover here seems to speak to the merging of these two monikers rather than continuing both as individual career threads. The use of the blue and yellow checkerboard pattern is the most significant indication, harkening to early career singles like “Burner” and “The One” that helped Ross carve out a lane in the first place. In our original coverage, we noted how the receding spotlight of the “lo-fi house” and its limited runway as a tightly defined microgenre meant that there may have always been an expiration date on Ross From Friends, but what was never limited was his ear for production and creative talents.
With the producer stating that he had become burnt out on electronic music working under that alias, it’s hugely reassuring that we’ll continue to reap the benefits of Weatherall in electronic music—it’s an additional bonus that the early returns have been so undeniable.
Catch “Lying In The Sand” and all of the Bubble Love releases wherever you stream your music.
