Push 'Back When We Believed'

Two album releases from one artist inside a single year? It might seem like a tall order - some might even say a bit of a (ahem!) push!? It does of course help if, by the end of January one’s already out there, and artistically is a graphic departure from your usual known-for (‘Phantom Realms’ being exclusively ambient/chillwave).

That gives Mike ‘Push’ Dierickx a clean ten month run at delivering his second, all of which commences today. It comes by way of ’Back When We Believed’, and word to the wise: a purer hearted Push thunderbolt to get the LP ball rolling with, it’s hard to imagine!

There’s perhaps no better time for a Push return to the fore either. Twenty-five years after they first debuted, December saw both his ‘Strange World’ and ‘Universal Nation’ classics re-enter Beatport All-Genres Top 100. Driven by nothing more than renewed interest, albeit with the slightest of helping hands from Tiësto, (who premiered his ‘Universal Nation’ re-edit during his SoCal Dreamstate set).

Both in terms of title and tone, ’Back When We Believed’ slots right into Push’s established lexicon – one exemplified by the likes of ‘Till We Meet Again’, ‘The Legacy’, ‘Tomorrow Is Another Day’ and ‘Journey Of Life’. Tags that blend Mike’s poignant sensibilities with his equally-embraced sonic touchstones of destiny, history, endurance, and human connection.

Once again this is woven into Dierickx’s painstakingly controlled harmonic architectures, where long, deliberate chord progressions upshift through subtle key modulations, before resolving dynamically … and emphatically. As ever his signature lies in those disciplined, multi-layered leads and subs, that are shaped by gradual filter automation and resonant sweeps. All underpinned naturally by his clean, low-end roll, that builds tension into all the melodic contouring.

’Back When We Believed’ represents the opening shot to end all opening shots! Ten years after his last recording for Black Hole … he’s back to make us believe.