I discovered “Sound of Walking Away” after listening to Illenium regularly over the past month, and really learning to appreciate him as an artist to a greater degree. When I saw the announcement on Instagram that Illenium had put out a new track, I was stoked. Illenium has consistently put out fantastic tracks that pack a strong punch and sport a full, crisp sound. It’s really surprising that Illenium isn’t more popular, even in the electronic scene if not in mainstream music. I imagine he will be a much greater presence both in the studio and at live performances over the next few years, and we can expect him to take a bigger role as a featured headliner in festivals to come. After all, he’s fairly new to the electronic scene when you compare him to veterans who have been around over a decade and continue to put on great performances. Yet he has already played a big role in the growth of future bass as an extremely popular and trendy genre of electronic music in the last year alone.
In regard to his latest release, all I can say is that Illenium delivered. The choice of collaborating with Kerli, an up-and-coming singer from Estonia, was genius. The vocal production, flawless. Normally, I associate Illenium’s tracks with an airy atmosphere inhabited by refined melodies and impactful bass, but this track had an especially great vocals presence. To top it all off, the drop was exhilarating, yet impressively simple. The track overall seemed so colorful and so approachable even for those who don’t listen to Illenium, while still fitting with the signature Illenium sound.
I am very excited to see Illenium’s progress over the next few years and to hear the music he has yet to put out. His name became known through his future bass remix of “Don’t Let Me Down” by The Chainsmokers, and he further established his name with his remix of Flume’s “Say It” featuring Tove Lo. It’d be impossible to imagine that this is as much momentum as he gets.
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