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Influential British house DJ-producer Scott Diaz tees up a striking release that mixes the key ingredients of his career success to date more potently than ever. For Diaz, it’s all about soul, rawness and artistic integrity – about making real electronic music to move real people. As Life On The Outside exemplifies, that means connecting with music lovers across divides. This latest work reflects its creator’s feeling of not belonging to any one particular ‘house’ and of producing between genre lines as his head and heart instructs. Such honesty and openness is bang on for a world, today, where sounds continue to blur and anything is possible.

This extended EP is only the fifth release for Scott’s Brighton-based imprint Grand Plans since it opened for business in 2016. But that’s testament to the artist wanting a label that operates with true purpose and doesn’t just seek to make up the numbers. As the name suggests, Grand Plans is all about meaningful music-craft and big picture-thinking, and Life On The Outside is clearly the next, wave-making step on that journey. Here is a body of work set to outlast the regular electronic promo cycle - communicating the artist’s real feelings and emotions, and taking the listener on an altogether deeper, more profound dancefloor journey.

Opening cut Happiness Is The Truth provides compulsive early momentum, a slinky groove driven by swinging drums, snappy robo-key riffs, pert bassline and the slightest, expertly applied dash of UK garage. There is similar snap ‘n’ bounce to What You Do 2 Me, Diaz’s use of funky bottom-end and skippy, immaculately-programmed beats working brilliantly with those soulful keys and swirls of synth to create a suitably giddy, head-turning flow.
 
The album’s title track takes things deeper and plays to the career-long love Scott has had for jazzier, more introspective soundtracking. His smart interplay of synths, organs and gospel refrains across a subtle melody line is reflective yet uplifting, and delivers considerable emotional punch. I Once Was Lost, meanwhile, tingles spines and elevates minds by layering spiritual vocals (from the Amazing Grace hymn book), stirring strings and snatches of trumpet atop another fizzing hi-hat-led slice of house gorgeousness.

Song For Kelly treads tribal paths with deep swing and smoulder, a thoroughly hypnotic ride counterbalancing its muscular throb later on with the skilful introduction of delicate jazz key solos, piano play and xylophone loops. As the track’s vocal parts plead, this is truly eye-opening stuff. Heartbreaker, meanwhile, manages to be both moody and melancholic whilst soaring upon edgy synthesizers and dizzying vocal samples - an appropriately intense nod to the turmoil of love lost. EP closer Girlfriend is an elegant, upbeat finale, working piano and percussion around its 4-4 framework to fine effect with, as we’ve come to expect, buckets of feeling