Paul Woolford - Forevermore

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  • Paul Woolford is sticking to his guns, and why shouldn't he? Since kickstarting his Special Request alias in 2012 with a triple-EP series, the man has burrowed through vintage UK house and hardcore, letting the influences creep into his eponymous tracks, too. And the sound has worked exceedingly well for him. After "Untitled" hit clubs like a piano-house firebomb in 2013, "MDMA" followed directly in its footsteps two years later, which Special Request's Modern Warfare doubled down on in its own junglist ways. Woolford's two mindsets collide on this two-tracker for Running Back, featuring a burly garage hybrid and rave-ready remix. Forevermore is for anyone who likes nostalgic kitsch in their big-room records. In the title track, sharp piano stabs punctuate a hard-stomping shuffle, and a high-octave string sample sustains over the simple garage-y bassline. Two unnamed vocalists appear on the drops, one delivering soulful sentiment and the other calling out wordlessly to no response. "Forevermore" can be fun the first few spins, but its novelty wears off before long. These ideas have been used every which way by Woolford and others, and that familiarity isn't helped by the tune's nine minutes of unsurprising peaks and valleys. Special Request's "FM Fantasy Mix" of "No Requests" spends just as long on its old-school genre mashup, looping in distorted organ bass, chopped breaks, ominous sub booms and other unapologetic throwbacks. For music made with sounds some would call "timeless," Forevermore has a short shelf life.
  • Tracklist
      A Forevermore B No Requests (Special Request Fantasy FM Mix)
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