It was four years ago that we first got the debut album from Lynchburg producer Lakim, This Is Her. Released back when Soulection still functioned as a label, the album held a lot of promise as he crafted his own unique blend of hip hop and house that he called Future Bounce. He’s remained relatively quiet since that time, but now he comes back with a new EP called Nightfall.

While Lakim initially made a splash by navigating the space between genres of instrumental music, Nightfall is much more of a straight up house release. That’s not a bad thing, especially when the house music is as good as it is here. Lakim has a thorough understanding of what makes house music compelling, and it’s all on display here. It all starts with a solid groove, and then it’s all about the subtle layering, always building and evolving, until you reach that crucial breakdown. You’ve got to have some killer bass, simple and memorable melodic lines, and drums that will make you move your feet, and then it’s up to the artist to dive into the nitty gritty and provide those small touches that aren’t that obvious at first but add up to a lot to keep the music in motion and hold interest. Lakim has a really great knack for chopping vocal samples and playing them off of each other to create short dialogues or statements of purpose for each track. My personal favorite on the EP is “Within You,” which brings in the Latin Disco influence to the house music, and will be sure to get you sweating on the dancefloor with its infectious rhythms. It’s a short release, but it is jam packed with great dance music that’s impossible to sit still to.

Lakim is a very talented producer who can take his music in a lot of different directions. In this particular instance, he takes us to a warehouse party in Chicago or Detroit in the early ‘80s, and it’s awesome. Put Nightfall on and dance the night away.