True North

True North is warm and melodic and perhaps a little too derivative.

It's the third studio album from respected melodic bass producer Jason Ross, who has been steadily garnering commercial attention for his tried-and-tested style of melodic bass. He operates off the noisewall-esque wave of melodic dubstep kicked off by Seven Lions in the mid 2010s, frequently pairing it with female vocals that have long since come to be known as a core part of this commercial melodic bass formula.

Ross' stalwart presence in the industry has done well for his reputation, as a reliably solid producer. In the dubstep tracks he is clearly in his comfort zone, and he brings in festival progressive house for True North, too - a genre he is just as familiar with as melodic dubstep, tracing back to his roots - allowing the genres to exist in tandem across the tracklist (though rarely together, on the same track) and interspersing them with the emotive themes of love and loss, and self-discovery.

But it feels like True North runs out of steam a little too quickly for its liking. Those aforementioned themes are not particularly unique to this album - in fact, they feel more like the default setting for these genres. What's worse is that most cuts indulge in that 'commercial melodic bass formula' (though it's also present in the house) - the female vocal with a catchy-sounding hook, over a fairly linear buildup-drop structure that never really changes. Only two tracks deviate from this formula, and then again, "City Lights" only does so on the slightest of technicalities (that being a male vocal). The so-called formula does spit out some nice tracks - "Mirage" sees Ross join with William Black for a catchy album opener, the prominent lead of "Heaven" works well in its own mix, "Let Go" is another earworm but is well-produced and enhanced by the fakeout of the final drop. More often than not, though, it feels repetitive.

The only sizeable deviation is the closer and title track "True North". The stuttery, bass-infused progressive house cut is atmospherically sensible and very well-written - Ross proves himself (though, for a producer of his tenure, he of course has no need to) in these departments quite holistically in this track alone. The trouble is, it feels like he has restricted himself in the tracklist prior to it, particularly in the songwriting, which largely remains constant throughout the vocal-based songs.

Perhaps criticizing a commercial progressive house album for being 'repetitive' is something of a cheap shot. The same is true for a melodic bass album - and I do maintain a lot of respect for Ross as one of the stronger producers of the genre - but it applies nevertheless to True North, which never truly gets itself going.

With the standouts few and far between, this is an album that I unfortunately don't have much else to say about. The short length doesn't help either, at just 35 minutes, though it does prevent it from dragging out - even still, in the limited runtime given, True North does feel like it labours its point.

Listen on Spotify here.