Play Records / Relentless

Some artists spend years carefully cultivating a brand. Melleefresh has spent over three decades being utterly, unapologetically herself - loud, filthy, camp, hilarious, seductive, and unforgettable. When Nile Rodgers met her, he summed her up in a single word: Relentless.

Relentless, her new full-length album on Play Rave, ricochets between peak-time techno, trance, rave, hard house, spoken-word seduction, alien romance, and uncannily infectious pop hooks, refusing to sit still for even a moment.

On paper, it shouldn't work. In Melleefresh's universe, it couldn't sound like anything else.

'Turn It Up, Turn It Down' kicks the doors open with a blistering minimal techno beat and pummelling psy-techno bass as Melleefresh demands more volume as though louder were a legally protected human right. 'XXX' follows in a cloud of acid-fuelled debauchery - a euphoric techno-trance weapon recalling the ecstatic vocals that first captivated audiences during her landmark collaborations with deadmau5.

'Whatchu Gonna Miss?' turns heartbreak into performance art, charging forward on analogue rave synths while Melleefresh sweetly reminds her soon-to-be ex exactly what he's about to lose. Then comes 'Encore,' a sparkling eurotrance fever dream where French flirtation and soaring synth hooks collide in gloriously unhinged fashion.

'Electric Cowboy' is pure cyberpunk camp - bouncy, euphoric, and knowingly ridiculous, committing to the bit with absolute conviction. 'Feel My Acid' delivers exactly what its title promises: squelching acid bass, rave chaos, and enough energy to power an illegal warehouse until well after sunrise.

'Alien Lover' launches the album into full-scale intergalactic dance-pop fantasy - an anthem of extraterrestrial romance that's as absurd as it is irresistible. 'Let's Make It Hot' shifts gears into slow-burning spoken-word seduction, layered vocal harmonies, and shimmering analogue synths drifting across an after-hours groove.

With 'Ravestar,' the album reaches peak self-mythology. Fan screams erupt, chaos escalates, and Melleefresh performs her own chipmunk-pitched crowd hysteria with the unwavering conviction of someone who has never once questioned her own legend - fully embracing her role as dance music's most gloriously ungovernable icon.

Finally, the title track, 'Relentless,' a collaboration with Berlin-based producer NikolaswithK, closes the album with sampled disco strings, hard-house momentum, and one final mission statement:

'I'm relentless. I'm the bitch that climbs to the top.'

It's less a closing lyric than a lifelong manifesto.