Rooms – Jason Ross Album Review

Track Listing

Rooms
Close Your Eyes
East Of Eden
The Gorge
IOU
New Dawn
Rooms – Edit
Close Your Eyes – Edit
East Of Eden – Edit
The Gorge – Edit
IOU – Edit
New Dawn – Edit

After mixing the EDM-influenced Anjunabeats Worldwide 05 to mixed acclaim, Jason Ross returns with his own EP; a collection of 6 uniquely different tracks along with their subsequent edits. While there is some good material here, the album feels a little light on content with edit versions of the same songs used to bolster out the run time. Dipping his toes into psy-trance and electronic pop genres, Rooms is an interesting collection of songs but certainly won’t be for everyone.

The album opens with the featured track of the album, Rooms. This 2 and a half minute ambient journey does well to warm us up ready for the next song, Close Your Eyes. Featuring the soothing vocals of Jonathan Mendelsohn, this dip into electronica feels very similar to Gareth Emery’s style and, armed with a simple hook, does well to show off this more commercialised style of dance music. East Of Eden is much more progressive in tone by comparison, with echoing klaxxon sounds and a minor key synth running throughout.

Arguably the best song of the album is one that Above & Beyond have been playing a lot in their sets recently. The Gorge is a really impressive track from start to finish, featuring spliced up vocals during the breakdown before hitting that sweet crescendo and subsequent psy-trance pay off. This sudden change in tone is one that works surprisingly well and for that alone, the album is worth a listen.

Jason Ross then takes a stab at a more chilled style with IOU, featuring the vocals of Emilie Brandt. This impressive tracks then leads nicely into the final instrumental song of the album, New Dawn. With seamless mixing throughout, the 6 tracks blend nicely into one another and the harmonic beatmatching does well to give the album a real ebb and flow.

As an artistic showcase, Jason Ross does well to show off his versatility here. There’s no doubt the man is a talented producer and the different genres he mixes together show off as much. I just wish there was more to chew through. Not counting the final 6 unmixed tracks, Rooms feels barren and empty. 

With a few more tracks used to bridge out the different songs on the album, Rooms may be worth the asking price but with a run time less than 30 minutes, it’s difficult not to suggest just streaming, rather than buying, this one.