What can only be described as STAR SEED‘s most ambitious body of work to date is here. And the arrival of their eight-part EP ESSENCE is more than just a sonic story. Finally arriving via Insomniac‘s budding melodic-bass imprint Lost In Dreams, ESSENCE comes complete with a 50-page novel as told by STAR SEED that dives into further detail about the story behind its creation.
Fittingly enough, each of the eight ESSENCE pieces were debuted live in 2022 at Lost In Dreams’ sophomore edition of their festival in Las Vegas this past fall.
ESSENCE’s rollout had kicked off back in February with its lead single “It’s Just You,” an anthemic bass cut touting powerful vocals from multitalented singer-producer Nytrix over STAR SEED’s cinematic production and trademark modular sound design. Then came “I’ll Be There” with previous ILLENIUM-collaborator Nina Sung as well as “Circles” with serial-STAR SEED collaborator Meggie York, which landed as ESSENCE‘s surprise third single just a day before the formal release of the full body of work. And on release day, five more ESSENCE members join—”Sunrise,” “Falling” with Zoe Moon, “The Abyss” with Fruit, “Whatever It Takes” with Crunr, and “Daylight” with Charity Vance—to round out STAR SEED’s biggest body of work since 2021’s Innerspace EP released via Ophelia Records.
And as for the aforementioned book counterpart to the EP, it follows the harrowing story of two brothers named Bear and Ford as they navigate life in a small village while searching for something more in the great beyond. The book features eight chapters, with each titled after a song on the EP. ESSENCE certainly hold up on the audio side, but together with the book, it paints an extremely vivid picture through the world of song and word, making for “one of their most ambitious projects yet and seeing it come to life has been unreal.”
ESSENCE completes an EP trifecta for STAR SEED—with Innerspace and 2022’s Digital Forest also being part of that list—and follows up what is perhaps STAR SEED’s biggest official rework to date with their inclusion on Seven Lions‘ Beyond The Veil remix album. Their take on “Stop Thinking” with Lights sees STAR SEED apply their refreshing identity to an instant classic from the Ophelia Records boss, while maintaining the spirit of the original that helped make it one of the most impactful—if not the most impactful—tracks off the melodic dubstep king’s debut album.
“We’re super excited to finally be putting out this body of work. ‘ESSENCE’ has been about 2 years in the making, so it’s crazy to see our vision come together in the way that it did and we’re thrilled to share this with the world.”
Featured image: MONTI
