Khotin - Release Spirit (Pink Cloud Vinyl) Vinyl LP

Canadian producer Dylan Khotin-Foote has maintained his Khotin alias for nearly a decade, an impressionistic electronic project that shifts with the movements of his life. Sometimes it leads—like the club-friendly grooves of 2014’s Hello World, which immersed him in Vancouver’s underground dance scene—and sometimes it follows, as with 2018’s Beautiful You, a downtempo salve for DJ fatigue. His melodic sensibility and playful ear for atmosphere remain the rippling core of the project’s fingerprint: whether beat-driven or ambient, foggy or pristine, a Khotin track carries a distinct, instantly recognizable swirl.

During and after the 2020 release of Finds You Well, his second LP on Ghostly International, Khotin-Foote settled into a slower pace in his hometown of Edmonton. Even before the pandemic, his pivot toward softer production and away from DJing reduced his club bookings in Vancouver, which, as a self-identified introvert, suited him just fine. The change of pace, however, created space to grapple with adulthood and career, and at his lowest, he almost walked away from music entirely. Instead, he doubled down, refining tone, pacing, and dynamism, culminating in a definitive full-length.

With Release Spirit, Khotin frees himself from the pressure of expectation, fusing and refining everything familiar in his music. The warmth and dreamlike quality of his dulcet style meet new ideas and frameworks, a natural progression and modest revelation. Khotin confirms it’s okay to move slowly—and he has never sounded better doing it.