Cheryl Holland and Riigs Get Emotional on ‘Deep Blue’ EP

Grab the tissues and find the nearest speaker stack, because ‘Deep Blue’ is about to soundtrack your next 3am moment. The new three tracker from Cheryl Holland and Riigs lands on Sub-Label Recordings on 31st July, and it’s got heart, hooks and enough low end to shake the paint off a warehouse wall.

This is what happens when a proper songwriter meets a proper producer. Cheryl brings the voice, the melodies, the lyrics that actually mean something. Riigs brings the engineering polish and that unmistakable melodic, atmospheric touch. Together they’ve built three tracks that work just as well through headphones on the night bus home as they do dropping in a sweaty basement at stupid o’clock.

Cheryl’s no stranger to graft. Singer, songwriter, producer and DJ, she’s spent years carving out a lane in emotionally direct electronic music, pulling from house, pop and that golden era of ’90s dance. Jaguar‘s already been playing her stuff on BBC Radio 1’s Future Dance, and she’s taken her sets everywhere from UK festivals to Pride stages to Ibiza, where she’s linked up with Sober Sound System and FML for DJ and live vocal sets. Oh, and she runs Glimmer, a sober rave brand that’s been repping alcohol free club culture hard enough to land a spot on the BBC’s The One Show. Busy woman!

Riigs, meanwhile, is quietly becoming one to watch in the melodic corner of Drum & Bass. Texture over noise, space over clutter, feeling over flash, that’s the Riigs formula, and it’s exactly what this EP needed.

Across the three tracks, ‘Deep Blue’ rides that line between song and weapon. Soaring top lines, atmospheric pads, basslines that roll rather than bully, all wrapped around hooks that stick without trying too hard. It’s restrained where it needs to be and hits where it counts, the kind of record that belongs on a rooftop at golden hour just as much as it belongs in a proper club system at midnight.

Two artists, three tracks, one shared instinct. ‘Deep Blue’ proves emotive Drum & Bass doesn’t have to choose between the feels and the floor.

Check out our premiere of ‘Deep Blue’ below. The EP drops Friday, 31st July on Sub-Label Recordings. Grab it here!