Scope is the Belfast-based Ric McClelland, and ‘Seven Reasons’ is a good deep house album that refuses to conform to type. At its finest it proves a good blend of panoramic deep house production and fine song writing, and two of the three tracks featuring Terry Grant – ‘Follow Me’, and ‘Seven Reasons’ – bear this out. Meanwhile ‘Won’t Be Long’ is a bright combination of 80s influenced slow breaks and chunky keyboards, while ‘Rain (Interlude)’ teases the listener with no kick before leading into the heavier rhythms of ‘Hold Us Back’, a much more upfront house track. Not all the instrumental numbers are as distinctive but they are never less than serviceable, and at his best McClelland has some real flair and imagination to bring to the deeper house dancefloor.
4 out of 5
Reviewed By Ben Hogwood
