Cheryl Holland & Riigs - « Deep Blue » (Sub-Label Recordings): three tracks between song and weapon

A melodic EP announced for July 31st, where Cheryl Holland's voice marries Riigs' spatial production. Three tracks, calibrated for the night bus headphones as much as the sweaty basement.

The atmosphere in one sentence

Melodic drum & bass that refuses to choose between song and dancefloor weapon - top lines that rise, atmospheric pads, rolling basslines. The Data Transmission brochure sums up the intention well: it should work on headphones on the nightbus as much as in a sweaty basement.

What we know about the release

• Label : Sub-Label Recordings
• Release date : July 31, 2026
• Format : Three-track EP
• Duo : Cheryl Holland (vocals, songwriting) + Riigs (production)

The exact titles of the three tracks are not mentioned in the press release I have - so no track-by-track, no blind spoilers.

Who are Cheryl Holland and Riigs

Cheryl Holland is not just a featured vocalist: singer, songwriter, producer, DJ, she founded Glimmer, a brand of alcohol-free raves that had a spot on the BBC's The One Show. The kind of trajectory that tells you right away that she knows what she wants from drum & bass - something that speaks to sober people in the early morning as much as to those on the dancefloor.

Riigs, on the production side, is a melodic head who works on texture rather than noise, space rather than chaos. On a three-track EP, this economy makes sense: the less you fill, the more the little you leave to breathe becomes significant.

Provisional verdict

A voice-production duo that seems designed to last rather than to blow up once. Solid on paper - I'll reserve the final rating for the system test, but the claimed "song + weapon" alliance is exactly what liquid melodic does when it really works.