Greeen Linez - Secrets of Dawn (2021)

Diskotopia concludes the label’s tenth anniversary year with an incredible record from one of their flagship groups, Greeen Linez. Also marking ten years since their first release under the moniker, Chris Greenberg and Matt Lyne return with the double album Secrets of Dawn—their most ambitious and expansive work to date.

In contrast to their darker, more downbeat last album Strange Energy, Secrets of Dawn is the result of a concerted effort to rediscover the joy, beauty, and melody that have been in such short supply worldwide in the two years since their 2019 release.

The creative process behind the album reflected the enforced solitude and introspection at the time of its inception. Consequently, Greeen Linez revisit every musical style and mood they have explored throughout their decade of releases, spanning from atmospheric ambient expansions to euphoric dancefloor anthems.

The influence of Larry Heard, Tangerine Dream, John Beltran, and Mark Isham is once again very evident. So too is the relationship with Japan, Lyne’s home for over 16 years. But rather than stepping back into the realms of City Pop— a genre that the pair helped introduce to the world with their 2012 album Things That Fade— here we can hear elements of Ryuichi Sakamoto, Toshifumi Hinata, and Hiroki Ishiguro, but fused with the sonic vocabulary of such artists as The Durutti Column, Cocteau Twins, Art of Noise, and The Cure.

Elsewhere, some of the dance numbers follow in the footsteps of Jam & Spoon, CJ Bolland, Étienne de Crécy, José Padilla, Cassius, Salt Tank, Earth Nation, and even Gerald Donald under his Dopplereffekt and Japanese Telecom outfits.

At almost 90 minutes in length, Secrets of Dawn is a magnum opus built for deep listening and immersion. The album is both a kaleidoscopic journey inward and an open-hearted invitation to reconnect with the world.