Hailing from Austin TX, Tritonal boast a truly diverse discography which covers many genres of EDM since their inception in 2008. Starting off with trance for a few years until 2013, the duo then turned their talents toward progressive house, with tunes like Bullet That Saved Me and Untouchable. In 2016, they dropped one of my favorite EDM albums of all time in ‘Painting With Dreams‘, full of progressive house gems and melodic masterpieces. Since the release of that album, their sound has generally migrated towards dance pop, epitomized in their album, ‘U&ME‘, which dropped earlier this year (although the occasional prog house tune did come along). Future bass and dance-pop rhythms dominated the 19 tracks, although surprises like the psy-trance inspired ‘Ayana‘ did stand out.

Since the release of this album, Tritonal performed at the Mainstage at EDC LV 2019, where they premiered two new tracks, both leaning towards the progressive styles once again. One of them, ‘Long Way Home‘, is a collaboration with Haliene and a couple more trance artists, while the other is the single released today.

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Titled ‘Never Be The Same’, featuring the mellifluous vocals of Rosie Darling, their newest offering is a clear return to progressive house, flaunting their signature sound design in the supersaws, the square leads and the dramatic fills used. This one borders on prog trance with the supersaws in the drop playing a chord progression (as opposed to having a clear monophonic lead synth). The soft arpeggios in the mid-low frequencies are a clear throwback to their 2015 single with Cash Cash, ‘Untouchable‘. Meanwhile, newer elements of their production style don’t fail to make their mark; vocal chops are distorted and used as risers, while the vocalist, Rosie Darling, has sung on a couple of Tritonal’s recent hit singles, including Diamonds.

Tritonal are known for pushing the envelope when it comes to sound design and arrangement on conventionally formulaic genres, such as prog house. The chorus comes with a deep trance-esque bass element, reminiscent of that on PRAANA’s newest single; normally regarded as too soothing for such an energetic genre, Tritonal uses their long buildup to allow for a low-energy chorus, cementing the song as both evocative in its lyrics and energetic in its drops. The buildup to the second drop is especially noteworthy, as Tritonal use a melodic section characteristic of prog trance at 3:10 to establish some improvisation on the main melody and mix in some energy before the drop is introduced. The melismas in the drops extend them to an unusually long, but fitting 32 bars. It’s no wonder then, that the song itself comes in at 4:24 and yet passes by in a jiffy.

It’s clear as daylight that even if it’s been a while since their last prog house tune, Tritonal haven’t lost their magical touch in the genre. While it might be a stretch to deem the dance pop days of Tritonal as over (the lack of a butterfly on the cover art may imply so), this tune and their upcoming one with Haliene (and possibly an Ilan Bluestone collaboration) suggest a return to their roots – one that has been much awaited by longtime fans.