HUMANiSE is a perfectly titled record, taking the cold grey and blue templates of house and techno and injecting them with vulnerability and human warmth with voices that ache and connect. HUMANiSE hands the microphone directly to queer and trans voices at a time when their identities are under sustained attack, insisting that you listen to them instead of reducing these lives to headlines or talking points.

This is still club music, and most of the album would work effortlessly in a Boiler Room context, but the album plays as a single, cohesive statement rather than a bundle of functional DJ tools, with a persistent sense of intimacy, trust, safety and solidarity. The record opens with a weightless two-minute intro that gently lowers you in before the stunning collaboration with Jon Hopkins Satellite arrives with an expansive but tender vocal line that’s emotional without a hint of melodrama. Come Together leans into soul and groove with an embracing warmth and Stitches slows the tempo dramatically with glowing synth textures stretching out and lingering. On the more uptempo Can’t Stand To Lose the harmonic language remains mournful and introspective, whereas Shapeshift strips the arrangement back and hits hard with murky bass and an aggressive kick. Voices hovers in the space between club music and deeply felt pop songwriting, with strong melodies carefully written for their emotional pull. The record’s final stretch expands outward on New Euphoria featuring Alexis Taylor, feeling like the album’s emotional apex in a massive, pulsing affirmation that still feels intimate, like a beating heart amplified for a crowd. The closer HQ is a queer monologue in a cold environment that evokes an isolated underpass at night. Every track on HUMANiSE could move a club, but the album asks you to listen and reflect with empathy and humanity.