Danny L Harle - Cerulean Review
Cerulean announces Harle’s new universe with breathtaking clarity – a record that seamlessly fuses different worlds into a singular, transportive cosmos.
Few contemporary electronic producers occupy the terrain that Danny L Harle does: a musician who is equally at home producing radio-ready tracks with industry icons such as Charli XCX, Dua Lipa and Caroline Polachek as he is exploring the experimental fringes of club and trance. Cerulean, his first solo album with XL Recordings, transports the listener across thirteen tracks with an effortless confidence that reflects the years of sonic evolution that make up its foundation. Marketed as a debut project, it never once feels like a tentative step into a new world. Instead, it feels like Harle’s musical manifesto, which navigates both exuberance and introspection simultaneously, constructing a world that feels as danceable as it does contemplative.
The moment that the record opens with the instrumental ‘Noctilucence,’ there is an immediate sense of weightlessness, a kind of suspended anticipation. Ethereal synths shimmer over vast stretches of open space as the listener is at once transported. It is clear throughout the album that its title, Cerulean, could not be more apt: evoking picturesque visions of endless skies, deep oceans, and the feeling of being both anchored and adrift in its sonic waves. Harle’s production is meticulous, but never overbearing. The textures, whether delicate or maximalist, always feel deliberate within the sprawling architecture of each individual track. This extends to the featured artists across the album: each contribution shapes the emotional trajectory of the track, ensuring that every collaborator is part of the album’s identity, not mere decoration. Clairo’s soft, introspective tone on the interlude ‘Facing Away,’ for example, creates a moment of melancholic stillness that feels deeply intentional, whilst Caroline Polachek’s siren-like and ephemeral presence over minimal synth waves on tracks ‘Azimuth’ and ‘On and On’ creates an immersive, almost other-worldly space.
On the lead single with PinkPantheress, ‘Starlight,’ a trance-infused euphoria carries lyrics of unrequited love, creating a radiant tension between dance and despondency. Tracks pivot from more intimate whispers to exhilarating bursts of club energy in the span of a few seconds, yet consistently flow seamlessly. Julia Michaels’ deft storytelling interlaces with luminous synth textures on “Raft in the Sea”, whilst Dua Lipa’s presence on standout track “Two Hearts” demonstrates the album’s capacity for unabashed romantic euphoria, without ever feeling out of place in an experimental context. Harle’s ability to balance these contrasting voices, maintaining their own identities whilst interlacing their sounds through his own cohesive sonic language, is remarkable, and remains a defining characteristic of the record.
What helps make the album feel so immersive is Harle’s treatment of space and repetition. Loops pulse with hypnotic precision, whether in rhythmic jabs or cascading sequences. These musical motifs act as both anchors and springboards, keeping the listener following enthusiastically even in its more subdued moments. This tension between maximalist bursts and contemplative voids is where Cerulean finds its emotional centre, creating a sense of journey without requiring overt storytelling. Language and melody are treated with equal care, with Polish lyrics from Coals’ kacha on “Te Re Re” and ethereal drifting vocal textures across the album reinforcing the feeling that Harle’s music extends beyond literal translation, rather operating on sensations and emotional logic. Sure, some of the album’s nods to early-00s pop and Euro-club might feel all too familiar on a casual listen, but Harle’s genius lies in drawing them far from a mere pastiche into a world that is unmistakably his own, rewarding listeners who are willing to go beyond the surface.
The album’s final moments are emblematic of this mastery. Its final track, “Teardrop in the Ocean”, is also its longest, taking its time as it drifts along, with synths rising and falling to create a sound that is quite literally akin to tears dropping into water, echoing the record’s themes of reflection and transcendence. By the time Cerulean comes to a close, the listener has traversed not only a series of unique sonic landscapes, but also an emotional continuum, from bursts of ecstatic euphoria to introspective serenity. Harle’s careful construction ensures that each individual track contributes to a longer narrative, establishing a sense of cohesive worldbuilding that is so rarely achieved in contemporary electronic music.
Cerulean is more a transformative experience than it is a mere album, serving as a testament to what electronic music can achieve when vision and craft align alongside thoughtful collaboration. Few records so seamlessly merge artistic ambition with the sheer visceral thrill of sound. By doing so, in a year still in its infancy, Cerulean stakes an early claim to be one of the defining albums of 2026. It’s a record that invites repeated listening, with each encounter uncovering new textures and emotional depths. With Cerulean, Danny L Harle has opened up a new cosmos: luminous, jubilant, exciting and, above all, entirely his own.