Oak Ay - LONGHAUL (2026)

In an age of instant gratification and endlessly scrollable consumption, the art of the album has been somewhat lost. It takes something special to capture your attention. Through pace, breadth, and imagination, Oak Ay has done exactly that With LONGHAUL, his latest LP on Beatservice Records. It's a journey through texture and time, infused with influences from across the electronic music spectrum. From downtempo and IDM to post-dubstep and techno, intricately and intimately constructed in trademark style.

The album begins with an oasis of serenity in '1654', full of hazy piano touches and cleansing ambience. Purified and ready to experience what comes next, Oak Ay reels off a double-header of nocturnal post-dubstep wanderings through 'Balchik' and 'Absent Mind'. Both are crafted inside the kind of atmospheric soundscape he has become known for, the former a hyperspace cruise across the galaxy, the latter edging up the intensity through a tougher lens. Elsewhere, you'll find infusions of trip hop like the big beats, glitching arps, and cosmos-shaking bassline on 'Dirt Flux' or the warped synth-heavy downtempo excursion of 'Afloat'.

As LONGHAUL progresses, Oak Ay hits with a handful of heavier creations. Take the menacing, percussive head-scrambler 'Unstart', or the bass bin-rattling, bassline-heavy 'Teti', that sounds like a fusion of Four Tet and Mount Kimbie. But those darker surges are balanced by more introspective lulls like the sensory sanctuaries of 'Cocoon' and 'Twice' that offer a chance to reset whilst building the anticipation for what comes next.

Much of Oak Ay's music is able to convey feeling without the need for vocals. Yet when he does choose to work with a vocalist, such as Emilie Storaas on 'Red Cherry Burns', the result is breathtaking. A dose of vocal-laden electronica that provides added human soul to the Oak Ay universe.

LONGHAUL unfolds as a voyage where listeners are locked into each twist and turn, every rise and fall, the way an album should be. Deft sampling, analogue warmth, and intricate layers create a truly cinematic experience, one that is instantly able to evoke emotions and transport you across memories. Unquestionably otherworldly, there is also an innately relatable nature to this body of music. Oak Ay's parting gift grounds you back down to earth, a folk-leaning lullaby entitled 'Everybody Is Sleeping' that leaves you suspended between reflection and reality.