Music Reviews

It’s almost impossible to keep up with the sheer volume of new-to-2024 Dolby Atmos tracks available on streaming services/online listening portals like Apple Music, Tidal, and Immersive Audio Album these days—not to mention the encouraging, increasing number of physical Blu-ray-with-Atmos options that are also out there, for us completist/collector types—but it’s one holy heck of a problem to have for those of us who truly cherish the immersive listening experience.

To that end, I’ve sifted through the balance of my 360-degree listening sessions this past year to cull the immersive herd down to the following list of my Top 5 Dolby Atmos tracks of 2024, a wide swath of surrounding sounds comprised of updated vintage synth pop, current hip-hop, experimental country, and veteran-progenitor rock music alike. Happy Immersion, everyone!

5. THOMPSON TWINS: “HOLD ME NOW”
As ubiquitous as any synth-pop track was in that hallowed MTV-era year of 1984, Thompson Twins’ inescapable earworm ballad “Hold Me Now”—which reached No. 3 in the U.S. in May 1984, and No. 4 in their native UK a few months prior, in November 1983—always had the underpinnings of a heartfelt epic singalong ballad that could be affecting in any genre or style of composition. Thanks to a new Atmos mix done by David Kosten for the 40th anniversary super deluxe edition of the album from whence it was embedded on, February 1984’s Into the Gap (originally on Arista, and now on BMG), “Hold Me Now” ascends to even higher ground in full-on 360-degree surround.

“I attended the Dolby Atmos remix session in London,” Thompson Twins vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Tom Bailey told me on Zoom from his New Zealand home just yesterday (December 18, 2024—though it was actually December 19 for him!), “and that was a real thrill. I made a few points that could be included in the final results, but we’re very happy with it. ‘Hold Me Now’ was originally recorded in 48-track—which, at the time, was a bit of a luxury, because normally, everything was 24—but I needed more space because I was adding a lot of ideas. In this case it paid off, and it set the standard for the rest of the album.”

Indeed it did—and in Atmos, a track like “Hold Me Now” becomes a whole new listening experience that builds upon the tenets of a song many of us have heard hundreds, if not thousands of times over the ensuing years, without detracting from the original mix (which still holds up in stereo on Side B of the 2024 red vinyl edition of Into the Gap). The dense, lush arrangement—shepherded and produced mainly by Bailey, with a later assist from album producer Alex Sadkin and mixer Phil Thornalley—unfolds like a flower entering full bloom, with the opening piano figure right down the middle, clipped Latin percussion swipes in the far left, sinister whirring in the center right, and rim taps way over on the far right. Bailey’s lead vocal soars above the main soundstage and the burbling bass line rules the sub channel. Note how he draws out the vowel in the word “an” in the phrase “an image of you and me,” and ditto in the word “all” at the tail end of the full verse. As each line unfolds, other percussive elements, congas, and even xylophone enter the track in the ether (and elsewhere) as fine punctuation marks. Each reading of the multilayered-vocal chorus nestles in the heights as they should, with Joe Leeway’s response vocals in the song’s back half enveloping Tom’s leads like a warm, reassuring comfort blanket. (Plus, that ascendent piano run after the line, “please don’t cry anymore” is just heavenly.) Let your Atmos loving start right here, right “Now.”

4. YEAT FEAT. SUMMRS: “GO2WORK”
So many rap and hip-hop tracks that make their way into the Atmos realm sadly miss the mark, intent, and inherent promise of the 360-degree arena—but not the newest tracks from SoCal hip-hop artist Yeat, whose dystopian October 2024 LP maximized the full potential of how to best immersify us in his oft-harrowing tales.

As I noted in my Lyfestyle review that posted here on October 27, 2024, “GO2WORK” finds Yeat having teamed up with Louisiana rapper Summrs. The initial sampled percussion sizzle-taps that reside in the mid-quadrant of the “GO2WORK” Atmos mix quiver, quake, and hiss like they came off a well-played, long-warped LP—and that’s a good thing indeed. Yeat sets the storytelling stage on the first verse as the backing synth-burbling flashes and squeals across the soundstage in response to his vocal charge to, you guessed it, “GO2WORK.” The effect on Yeat’s vocal also warps and wavers as the verse carries onward, his voice planted high in the stage with a slight echo at the end of most lines but still somewhat kept in alignment with the squiggled percussive taps behind him. The bass lays back in the mix so it doesn’t compete with the flow—a smart production choice by the troika of Robin, Synthetic, and TC. Summrs adds a different vocal flavor to the next verse, and the music drops out for a brief moment right after the phrase, “Get too close / I pop.” Listen for where the ensuing, repeated “okay” and “whoa” exclamations wind up in the wide channels—sometimes they’re upfront, sometimes they’re cascading in the back. “GO2WORK” shows exactly how one can deftly work the elements in a rap track without overloading it. (And now, just like the song says, it’s time to take the Lamb’ outta here. . .)

3. SHABOOZEY: “GOOD NEWS”
Equally concerning for Atmos lovers is how many country artists simply lose the family plot in Atmos, opting to fill the channels with a variety of basic “aw-shucks” twangin’ elements mostly intended to plug the space rather than truly immerse. Good thing crossover superstar Shaboozey avoided that honey trap by instead making sure his September 2024 single “Good News” (American Dogwood/Empire) avoided those whiplash-inducing pitfalls.

As I noted in the back half of my “Good News” review that posted here on November 26, 2024, Shaboozey’s throaty read on the word “need” leads into a brief wide-pan of the start of the guitar solo before it pulls back to the middle and then goes over to the center right and back again, while those steady handclaps step up to carry the beat across the stage. (And, if you listen really closely, in the background, you should hear a vocal nod or two to the title of The Lumineers’ best-known song.) Everything drops out for the final line reading—a cool, thoughtful callback to the opening with Shaboozey’s reflective voice (albeit lower in volume this time) and the return of that plaintive acoustic guitar figure, upon which you can now hear the fingers sliding on the strings.

In my original review, I concluded that, given the ever-unsettling nature of the world around us these days, Shaboozey’s “Good News” is exactly the kind of news we need right now. The newly added corollary is this: We’ll sure need it in 2025 too, won’t we?

2. DAVID GILMOUR: “THE PIPER’S CALL”
When I delved into reviewing the Atmos mix of David Gilmour’s entire Luck and Strange album (Sony Music) that posted here back on November 13, 2024, I opened with the line, “Immersive music, thy name be David Gilmour”—and I still stand by that statement. The more I listen to all of Luck and Strange via its Blu-ray incarnation, the harder it gets to pick my favorite Atmos mix on the onetime Pink Floyd guitarist/vocalist’s fifth solo album, but I’m going to go with “The Piper’s Call,” which opens with Gilmour on ukulele, as buttressed by Adam Betts’ right-channel djembe, other percussion, and a shaker that nestles behind him, middle-stage. “Take these binds everlasting,” Gilmour begins in the center (and note how the second syllable “lasting” comes across as “lausting”) and the track unfurls with precise intent. As Gilmour tells his tale, the musical elements support, rather than overwhelm the storyline, with Rob Gentry’s keyboards and Steve Gadd’s precision drumming putting on a masterclass of accompaniment. Plus, you should be able to discern the vocal DNA blend in the background vocals provided by his offspring, Romany and Gabriel Gilmour.

All that said, make sure you’re ready for Gilmour’s full-channel guitar-solo assault in the back half of “The Piper’s Call,” bolstered by the abject sinew of Guy Pratt’s bass in the sub channel. If you’ve ever loved the sound and feel of Gilmour’s signature snarling tone, you’ll be quite exhilarated when this track ends—and then, of course, you’ll want more of it.

I also stand by my original review’s conclusion: Luck and Strange remains an indisputable benchmark for Atmos mixing, and I hope David Gilmour and co. have it in them to keep giving us more immersive offerings as the endless river of time and tuneage flows ever onward. Atmos is our calling—and, hopefully, it’s his as well.

1. MARK KNOPFLER: “TUNNEL 13”
This track has some seriously deep roots, and it’s what I consider to be the linchpin cut on Mark Knopfler’s latest, and 10th, solo effort, One Deep River (British Grove/Blue Note). Also, as I proffered at the outset of my interview with Knopfler that appeared over on our sister site Stereophile here on July 10, 2024, for a guy born in postwar Glasgow, Scotland who spent his formative years across the border in Northern England, Knopfler sure has a knack for writing songs based in an American ethos.

“Mark is all about the song,” agrees audio engineer, producer, and keyboardist Guy Fletcher, Knopfler’s longtime coproducer and sounding board ever since he joined Dire Straits to record that band's May 1985 blockbuster Brothers in Arms (Warner Bros.). “He just wants to immerse you in it and not be flashy about it.” Fletcher feels his job lies on the technical side of Mark’s storytelling. “It’s about getting the right atmosphere down for the story at hand. It's down to great engineering and great mixing.” (Incidentally, Guy and I get waaaay deep into the Atmos mixing waters in my Immersive Audio File column that posted here on S&V on April 26, 2024.)

“Tunnel 13” tells the harrowing tale of a century-old train robbery gone horribly wrong—and in its affecting Atmos mix, you are transported directly into the room where the song was played live by Knopfler and his ace compatriots. Knopfler’s lived-in lead vocal sets the scene in the upper-middle quadrant, and you can hear him take a breath before singing the very first word, “In.” The heaven-sent vocals from Emma and Tamsin Topolski only add to the stage-setting. As the band kicks in for the second verse, Ian Thomas’ drums and are placed just right up the middle while Knopfler’s guitar lines waft around them to and fro, all to give you the sense that you are there—not just in the middle of the grim tale itself, but in the very midst of the artists as they play it. If you’ve ever been to a studio, “Tunnel 13” is one of the best representations of what it actually feels like to be in a recording session, whether you’re performing, producing, or just observing.

“I couldn’t wait to get to do that one,” Fletcher told me about our shared affinity for this song. “That was always going to be my favorite, just because of the whole atmosphere. and the story. It’s such a fabulous story, and to be able to relate it to the guitar that [Mark] plays on it is just a lovely, lovely little thing. (Fletcher’s referring to the line in it that goes, “Tunnel 13 is the place in the song / Where the beautiful redwood for my guitar came from.”)

I’ll close with Knopfler (seen above near the bridge in the UK that spans the river that gives the album its name, in a photo by Murdo McLeod) discussing his Atmos philosophy, which mirrors my own: “It’s like heightened stereo. It’s a heightened awareness,” he told me. “In Atmos, you have a box to put your characters into. It’s not like you're putting them on a flat screen—you’re putting them onto a stage, or whatever you like. That’s the difference in that it’s not one-dimensional like a screen. You’re looking into something with perspective. It’s extraordinary, as long as it’s in the right hands. [chuckles] Atmos is exciting! It really is. I didn’t expect it to be. I expected it to be resolutely non-thrilling. [MM laughs] I was expecting not to be thrilled, and I’m delighted to report that I am thrilled.”

Hear, hear, maestro MK—we’re thrilled with Atmos too. And with that—happy 360-degree-listening holidays to one and all, and here’s to us being Immersive together again in 2025!