ElectroSoul is DJ Harrison’s first solo album since 2024’s Shades of Yesterday, but one can hardly say he hasn’t been busy. Later in 2024, Devonne Andre Harris (aka DJ Harrison) paired with DMV-based vocalist Nigel Hall (who appears here on “Can’t Go Back”), of Lettuce fame, to release the collaborative and funky Earth, Wind & Fire tribute album The Burning Bush: A Journey Through the Music of Earth, Wind & Fire. Then in 2025, DJH’s Richmond, VA-based group Butcher Brown offered up Letters from the Atlantic, an equally groovy and collaborative adventure. Cementing a legacy steeped in soul, jazz, and funk, all channeled through Harris’ affinity for electronic keyboards and his Richmond lens, DJH is back in full force with ElectroSoul, another feature-filled RVA affair, via Stones Throw Records.
As promised, DJH brings both the electricity and the soul. Fuzzed-out guitars, hypnotic basslines, skillful keyboard playing, buzzing synths, and punchy drums drive the staticky album. DJH comes in hot on the drum- and synth-heavy, short but potent opening track “Fresh Squeezed Drums”, setting the mood for the J Dilla-inspired experience (nearly half the tracks clock in under two minutes). Clearly, Stones Throw has an affinity for minimalistic jazz loops and idea-heavy albums that deliver a variety of moods in a short time. Utilizing distorting vocal filters to give the impression of flipping from radio station to radio station, a brief moment of blank static precedes the dial landing in the perfect spot. As DJH announces later, the listener has now tuned into “WDJH 4945 FM, with the groove that makes you move … y’all make sure y’all stay tuned”.
The shortest tracks come in the form of the intro and two vocal sample-wielding interludes: “Sepia Visions”, containing a heartfelt sample of DJH’s mother, and “SmokeSetBreak”, which incorporates a hodgepodge of excerpts such as RVA news, weather reports, and Harris himself playing the role of radio station host. While DJH rarely provides his own vocals, this happens more than once on the album, namely on “OG Players,” where he employs fuzzy filters to his singing (and guitar playing).
Usually, and yet again on ElectroSoul, DJ Harrison lets the features do the bulk of the heavy lifting regarding vocals. Although this project is his first solo in two years, there is no lack of guests who bring their own unique charge to electrify the LP. In classic DJH style, the features confer Richmond vibes (in addition to being recorded 90% at Jellowstone Studio in Richmond — the other 10% at Montrose Recording in LA), albeit with marked stylistic differences across singing, rapping, and producing. RVA natives Grebes (bestowing silky smooth vocals upon “End of Time”), Fly Anakin (spitting fire on “Seek God”), Angélica Garcia (singing dreamily on “Turn Away”), and SoundGenesius (producing a remix of “Ain’t Going Back”) all do their part to assist the atmosphere of tuning into DJH’s fictitious Richmond radio station. Meanwhile, Birmingham, AL native Pink Siifu (a previous and frequent collaborator of DJ Harrison and Fly Anakin) jolts the track “Y’all Good?” with his customary hip hop technique.
Three outliers who don’t provide vocals are the legendary Miguel Atwood-Ferguson (supplying the lush strings on “Ballade de Vixen”), fellow Stones Throw signee Kiefer (playing keyboard on the Brian Auger cover “Beginning Again”), and producer SoundGenesius (on the boards for the “Can’t Go Back” remix that ends the album, “Ain’t Going Back”).
Once you find this station, don’t touch the dial.
