Phonica Mix Series 145: Long Island Sound

Few artists capture that sweet spot between introspection and dancefloor euphoria quite like Dublin's Long Island Sound. Since emerging with early releases on Body Fusion before carving out a distinct identity through their own Signs of Space imprint, Rob Roche and Tim Nolan have steadily built one of Ireland's most compelling catalogues—stretching from the shimmering house and breaks of Initial Ascent and Broken Signals to the emotionally-charged Lost Connection LP, the club-ready Don't Let Me / Air EP, and this year's expansive new six-tracker. Along the way they've earned support from the likes of Bicep, Pete Tong and Bonobo, remixed Depeche Mode, appeared everywhere from Boiler Room and AVA Festival to Berlin's Griessmuehle and London's fabric, while their own all-night-long parties have become something of a rite of passage back home. Fittingly, their Phonica mix captures the duo exactly where they thrive: recorded during the opening hours of an open-to-close set at Dublin's Tengu, it patiently stretches the elastic between warm-up and release, slowly unfolding from hazy atmospherics into rolling, heads-down grooves before stopping just shy of lift-off—the moment, as they put it, when "the balloon is almost ready to pop into full-on party mode."