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20. Potential - The Range (2016)

Electronic

Producer James Hinton, aka The Range, employs a curious process when making music. He builds atmospheric electronic tracks around heavily manipulated vocal samples. Nothing too crazy there, except for the source of the samples. For his third album, Potential, the sources were obscure, barely viewed YouTube videos which featured unknown aspiring creatives literally “putting themselves out there” into the world. For the album, Hinton managed to distill the essence of the videos and weave them carefully into the dense electronic layers of synths, strings and keys. The effect is remarkable, and understanding the process adds substantially to the impact of the album as a whole. It also gives context to the album’s title, which alludes to the untapped potential of the people whose voices are the central characters in an ultimately uplifting and encouraging narrative.

Hinton went on to make a documentary that details the process of making the album, starting with finding the videos he’d later use and contacting their creators in order to obtain permission to use the samples. He also showcases a number of those creators in the documentary, telling their stories and giving their input further depth. Watch the short documentary, Superimpose, here .

*image; cover art for the album Potential by The Range