Romain Garcia at Splendor
Anjunadeep Explorations 2023
Welcome to the Albanian Riviera, the current mecca for trust-fund hippies and burnt-out Londoners desperate to 'find themselves' over a long weekend. You have got blokes named Tarquin doing impromptu yoga in the sand while aggressively explaining the benefits of microdosing to anyone who will listen. But when the Adriatic sea breeze hits and the bassline drops, you have to admit these destination ravers are onto something. The Splendor stage is a sun-kissed, barefoot utopia of organic house and hazy daytime euphoria.
Diving into the Romain Garcia Anjunadeep Explorations 2023 tracklist reveals a beautifully paced Rominimal and melodic journey. Gliding at an incredibly smooth 123.6 BPM, he navigates the 4B and 3B Camelot keys to create a deeply emotive, resonant soundscape. His mixing is buttery and patient, allowing the massive 0.70 low-end energy to wash over the beach like a warm tide. The selection in this Romain Garcia live set is sublime.
He champions his own ethereal productions like "Lophorina", but the absolute masterstroke is sneaking in a deep, atmospheric nod to Alice Deejay's "Better Off Alone"—a guaranteed way to get the crowd misty-eyed. The journey is perfectly bookended. He kicks things off with the gorgeous opening track, "White Flag", builds to an expansive 8-minute peak with "Mysterious Bird", and gracefully bows out as the sun sets with the closing track, "Sevilla". Proper sorted vibes.