Although it’s easy to write off extreme kick-triggered mix pumping as a tired EDM cliché, once you start deconstructing a few actual commercial releases, it quickly becomes clear that there’s a great deal of subtlety separating different implementations. And this track is a case in point, specifically the cool pumping effect when the choruses arrive at 0:48 and 2:05. A great way to appreciate it is to compare what’s going on in the Middle and Sides stereo components. In the Middle component, the bass synth and vocal both sound quite clear and hi-fi, and there’s actually precious little gain-pumping of either of them going on at all, whereas in the Sides component the situation’s radically different. For a start both the vocal and bass tones are heavily modulated and distorted, and the lower-octave vocal doubling is coming through much stronger too. But, in addition, both are being heavily pumped by the kick drum, almost to silence. So for stereo listeners the result is this fabulous modulation of both the stereo width and the harmonic complexity, but without any risk of losing the bass line or vocal intelligibility.

And there’s more. For a start, the vocal reverb doesn’t seem to be pumping, which enhances this slightly odd effect of the vocal floating over the top of the violently pulsating background. And then there’s the defiantly un-pumped stereo synth/brass stab that happens every on the downbeat every two bars, the tone of which matches the distorted bass closely enough that it keeps the ear guessing about what’s being pumped and thereby maintains the novelty of the texture for longer in the listener’s attention. Call it a cliché all you want, but in this case it’s creative and pretty smart, if you ask me.