GRiZ Glistens on Latest Mixtape ‘Chasing The Golden Hour Pt. 3’

GRiZ drops the third edition of Chasing The Golden Hour that’s perfect for those sweltering summer evenings and transports us to a state of bliss.

Without a doubt, summer 2020 has not been what we all hoped for when this year began. However, all hope is not lost. Just when we thought there was no good news left to be had in the lost summer of 2020, enter GRiZ. Now, fans around the world rejoice as he’s unleashed his latest masterpiece: Chasing The Golden Hour Pt. 3.

The state of the world hasn’t stopped GRiZ from staying at the top of his game. Over the past six months, we’ve seen his first release on Night Bass with his bass-house smasher, “Could U,” And a wildly successful fifth installment of his Bangers series, including his smash hit “Medusa” featuring Wreckno. After a long, yet well-welcomed focus on dubstep and bangers, its time to shift the focus back to the heart and soul of GRiZ music.

That one of a kind, sexy, sax-laden, smooth vibe. Chasing The Golden Hour Pt. 3 is all of that and more. It’s a masterful mixtape that features nine all-new tracks rooted in sunshine, good friends, and good vibes, and a fresh opportunity to bask in the masterful production that only GRiZ can provide. His inclusion of live instrumentation and thoughtful, progressive energy makes the entire project feel bigger than GRiZ himself. That’s because it is.

I wanted to recreate the carefree good vibes you feel when it’s just about sunset on the perfect summer evening and everything is the most beautiful shimmering tint of gold. Chasing The Golden Hour is that magical moment, it is the cool breeze against your back, it is sweet summer swagger in music form.
GRiZ

Can’t get enough of GRiZ’s soulful sunset vibes? Neither can we. Download or stream Chasing The Golden Hour, Pt. 3 on your favorite platform, and read on for my take on the full release.

Stream GRiZ – Chasing The Golden Hour Pt. 3 on Spotify:

Chasing The Golden Hour Pt. 3 enters with an eloquent introduction by GRiZ himself.

“Know Time Like The Present” features an original spoken-word piece reminding us all to be here now and to be one with the universe. At the end of the day, that’s all we have, and that is what we were born out of, stardust. Setting the tone appropriately for the rest of the mixtape, GRiZ stated, “I’ve stopped trying to try, I just be. Just like the universe doesn’t try to give us answers, or try to convince you of her beauty, the universe just is. Being is the answer; being is beautiful.”

As we sally forth into the sunset, “Gettin High, Having Fun” lures us into a vibe reminiscent of the early days of his music. A laid back bass line walks us down to a sun-kissed shore. Defined by a grooving guitar riff and glimmering horns, GRiZ immediately thrusts us into a better realm. A thoughtful and cultivated boarding pass to the golden hour airwaves.

Placing our morality directly in front of us and asking us to confront it head-on is not something most would expect from an electronic music producer.

Yet, “Won’t Be Gone Long” does precisely that. GRiZ poses the question, what do you think it feels like to be alive? His precision productions answer that question for us in one fell swoop. A blissfully balanced blend of strings and polished horns give way to a soul touching sax solo that has become one of his numerous hallmarks.

The only single from the release that arrived earlier this summer comes from a long time GRiZ collaborator and musical counterpart, Probcause. The multi-talented vocalist blesses Chasing The Golden Hour Pt. 3 with a bubbling, tropical vocal on “Solo.” A highlight of the mixtape that was born out of quarantine, “Solo” highlights the positives of being on your own and reminds us that even when we feel alone, there is always love and friendship around every corner. Usually closer than we think.

“Nights in Shibuya” lays down that perfectly psychedelic slow dive into the welcoming night. GRiZ places the groove front and center as his production transports us to a far off land that we have visited before, yet only in a dream. A land where the glow of neon street signs burns brighter than the fading rays of the day. A place that seems eerily familiar yet foreign none the less.

GRiZ has always had a magnificent way of incorporating live instrumentation into his funkified electronic grooves, yet “Koh Sumi” summons a side of him that we have never heard before, and we can’t get enough. The sixth, and quite possibly strongest, track taps into GRiZ’s best Khruangbin impression for a guitar riff so profoundly soaked in psychedelia we weren’t sure it was even on the same record. An absolute triumph of a track and one of the golden hour’s brightest rays.

“Sweet” brings the tempo back up to speed to accomplish a bobbling bounce around the living room. A dancey, yet not overreaching track that draws on a funky 80s vibe pairing perfectly with GRiZ’s soulful sax fills and stabbing sub-bass with a strutting bassline that commands listeners attention. But only before giving way to a harmony of classic and modern funk vibes only manifested by GRiZ and his unwavering touch for originality.

The remaining rays of daylight carry us home in an ethereal cockpit of love on “Floating.”

Ever wondered what it would be like to become one with the universe? Put this track on alongside your best friends and find out what GRiZ’s dreams sound like; we can bet it’s not that much different from ours. This masterful production takes a page directly out of Flume’s self-titled album and pairs it perfectly with GRiZ’s future-funk sound. When we thought Chasing The Golden Hour Pt. 3 couldn’t get any better, it did.

GRiZ brings us back to the Earth’s surface in the most gentle, yet poignant of ways. “Where Will I Go” leaves us to ponder the biggest question of them all. Yet this joyful refrain of a closer is the harmonic equivalent of that last beam of sunlight dipping below the horizon and signifying more of a “see ya later” instead of a goodbye.

In a world filled with all too much doom and gloom, it is thanks to artists like GRiZ that can lift us up and carry us bravely into the new day. We cant wait to see what his brilliant mind will be up to in the studio next!

GRiZ – Chasing The Golden Hour Pt. 3 – Tracklist:

Know Time Like The Present

Gettin High, Having Fun

Wont Be Gone Long

Solo Ft. ProbCause

Nights in Shibuya

Koh Samui

Sweet

Floating

Where Will I Go

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