SQWAD moves in with their sophomore single on Divided Souls, “U Don’t Know,” an ultra-glossy and bass-driven house single.
Around the middle of August, the bass house don Wax Motif made the call to loosen up the reins on his ever-growing Divided Souls imprint by inviting on the first official release from an artist outside of himself. The trust he placed in SQWAD was fully justified, which was evidenced by the no-frills stomper they served up that came in the form of their label debut, “Never Stop.” Now, the on-fire French duo is building on the momentum with an impossibly smooth follow-up.
“U Don’t Know” is a bass house number at the top of its class, as it comes flying down the block taking corners at high speeds. Clocking in at a nearly four-minute run, the track comes out of the gate with murky chords drifting intently atop a frame made from a clean combination of snappy hats, crisp snares, and a prominent kick. The groove glides effortlessly while choppy vocal stabs continuously snap to keep the beat on track. Once the track is firing on all cylinders, SQWAD kicks it into high gear with an aerodynamic arrangement built around a buff bassline and whooshing textures that fly by and quickly become vague images growing smaller and smaller by the second. It’s easily one of the freshest bass house cuts on the road right now.
The new single is one in a handful of releases SQWAD has sent off in 2020, including the recent contribution they kicked down alongside Badjokes, “Disco Light,” featured on the third edition of the Rotate compilation series from Insomniac’s IN / ROTATION imprint. With a stylish sound that sits neatly between tech house and bass house, they’ve managed to catch the attention of many of the big cats across the global dance scene, having earned recognition from names like DJ Snake, the Chainsmokers, Don Diablo and many other artists at the top of the food chain. It seems as though each release hits harder than the last, allowing SQWAD to consistently add newfound fans to the crew.
