By: Mizzani Walker
Adam Richard, better known by his stage name Calvin Harris, is widely acclaimed and justifiably considered the face and sound of the modern EDM movement. On October 31st, 2014 this hit making Scotsman debuted his fourth and latest album entitled “Motion”, and already this goldmine has taken the music industry and commercial world by storm. With a perfect balance between illuminating sound and powerful artist collaborations, it’s no wonder this album soared. Motion is jammed packed with an all-star hit list that includes, the summer breakthrough single, “Summer”, “Outside” with Ellie Goulding and “Blame” that featured British singer- songwriter John Newman.
Despite its star quality chart topping singles across the UK and the globe, Harris received mixed reviews from Billboard which stated, “Calvin Harris’ Motion plays it safe with radio-ready cuts and it-girl guest stars, also saying the album “has a few surprises” and reveals a more dynamic sound than Harris’ previous efforts.” Nevertheless, to combat unfavorable critics he was also well received from other reviews including, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly and Los Angeles Times that praised his work as transcending and “eminently listenable and dandily good-timeish affair.”
Motion is packed plentiful with crowd pleasers and surprises listeners with a change in dynamic focus from the production of revolutionary beats to the cultivation of iconic dance anthemic choruses. Fast forwarding into the end of his works, Harris switched things up with songs such as, “Burnin” and “Overdrive” that added a hole sum swing at dirty dutch, a style of house music, with the help of Dutch producer R3hab and Turkish producer Ummet Ozcan. I truly believe there is still much to come from this incredibly talented artist as he continues to expand and develop himself as a dynamic groundbreaking electronic artist, singer- songwriter and producer.
I give this album 2 Owls up!
