There's a particular mood that settles over progressive house as summer loosens its grip, and September's Protagonist Recordings selection catches it precisely. Dmitry Molosh opens with Flower Field - deceptively gentle, the kind of track that hides its complexity until the third listen. Michael A's Phantom Signal is all controlled tension, while RomanSmitarello's Cygnus reaches for something wider and colder, named after a constellation for good reason. ARJ, a young voice already fluent in the genre's hypnotic long-form logic, brings Underworld; Anderson answers with Echoes of Amenti, dark and searching. And when Onnoira and Ev Tymd take the final stretch - the latter's Voyager EP contributing both Atlas and its title track - the collection closes not with a statement but with a question left hanging. Music that trusts the listener to meet it halfway.

Balance Music