Breach “You Won’t Find Love Again”
Ben Westbeech is a man of many hats—vocalist, producer, DJ—and now you can add label […]
Ben Westbeech is a man of many hats—vocalist, producer, DJ—and now you can add label head to the list, as “You Won’t Find Love Again” marks the first release on the UK veteran’s newly founded Naked Naked imprint. Dropping a single-track effort under his Breach handle, Westbeech launches his label with a lush piece of driving, soulful house.
It’s probably a safe bet to say that if “You Won’t Find Love Again” had dropped a year or so ago, it would have been inescapable. The song comes with all the trappings of a “big tune”—catchy vocal snippets, a smart and soulful chord progression, the occasional flashes of arpeggiating melody, and a solid bassline; even better, it’s all been wrapped in an infectious, pulsating drive. It’s a ways off from Breach’s 2010 monster, “Fatherless,” leaving that tune’s massive percussion and tribal patterns behind for the glowing textures and R&B-style contemplation of house-infused bass music. Still, some lines can be drawn between the two, particularly in terms of their sonic structure, which has been built with the same thickness, a quality heard best in “You Won’t Find Love Again”‘s bulging bassline, muscular drum sounds, and wide, dense synth tones. From the intro build-up to the mid-point breakdown and on to the tune’s closing minutes (and the track does spend a good time breaking down, giving DJs plenty of chances to exit properly), each separate movement is reached in expert fashion, as Westbeech somehow manages to always add or take away just the right element in order to keep things moving naturally over the song’s seven-plus minute run.
The only downfall of “You Won’t Find Love Again” is that it almost sounds like a song you’ve already heard, landing somewhere between a beefed-up version of Jacques Greene’s “Another Girl” (minus the R&B hooks) or a hyper-driven, garage-swung update to Deadboy’s “Wish You Were Here” (again with far less of an emphasis on R&B hooks). Maybe “You Won’t Find Love Again” just needs a bit of time to distinguish itself from the similar feats of house-infused bass-music bravado we’ve been privy to over the past few years, and considering the strength of its production and anthemic musical qualities, Breach’s latest is likely to receive enough rinses to make its own mark on dancefloors for some time to come.