A deeply textured, forward-facing trip from one of house music’s true visionaries Ron Trent, this is ‘Lift Off’.
After a five year stint largely rooted in the States, Ron Trent is finally stepping back onto the world stage in 2025, and he’s doing it in style. His new LP ‘Lift Off’, released via Rush Hour, isn’t just a return to international form, it’s a sonic expansion of everything he’s built across three decades of deep, soulful, genre-fluid dance music.
The Chicago-born DJ and producer has cemented his name in the House music hall of fame since his early releases in 1990 and the plethora that followed on across vas labels like Cajual, Prescription which he ran alongside Chez Damier, Nite Grooves, Balance, Peacefrog and his own Future Vision Records. His last LP was released in 2022 under his Warm alias and was a warm, electronica piece that featured names like Ivan Conti, Alex Maherios and Jean-Luc Ponty. Now for 2025 Trent delves back into his deeper house side but doesn’t stop there amalgamating influences further afield into one sonic journey with ‘Lift Off’.
From R&B-laced synth funk to Latin tinged deep house and Balearic melancholy, ‘Lift Off‘ glides through genres without losing focus. Opening with the funk electronica number ‘Hot Ice’ which finds cool electric guitar licks, jazzy bulbous bass tones and wired organ chords pulled together to create a almost futuristic jazzy-fuelled cut.
‘Woman of Color’ takes us on a Hammond organ ride with samba rhythms and spaced out synths lines whilst ‘Sexstrology’ is heated, pulsating number with its pushing, pulsating rhythm. ‘Let Me See You Shining’ features none other than Leroy Burgess and is a beautiful soulful House number.
The collaborations continue when house music poet Harry Dennis dances lyrically over latin enthused beats that couple with so many textures layered around his beautiful tone. Then German jazz funk hero Lars Bartkuhn features on ‘Street Wave’, a sonically splendid sound with Lars delivering some of his finest guitar work over Trent’s ever inspiring synth chords. Intergenerational magic.
‘Lift Off‘ isn’t just a new chapter for Ron Trent. It’s a deep, expansive piece of work that stretches house music’s possibilities while staying grounded in the soul and rhythm that made it so vital in the first place. Elegant, emotional, endlessly musical, ‘Lift’ Off is music for dancers who think, and thinkers who dance.
Ron Trent’s ‘Lift Off’ can be purchased here and of course streamed through all the usual spots.
