Room to Bristen

I seem to have compound words on the brain. Maybe I've been neglecting my Blowtorch duties recently and watching too much coverage of Brexit and flextensions. There's even a new movement to get Ireland out of the EU called Irexit (whose Irish supporters hate the European Union and all it stands for, so are quite Irate).

On a more meditative note, here at Blowtorch we have been listening to the brand new School Days EP from Kid Slang - Chicago producers Mitch Settecase and Brendan Forrest. After a hectic week, take some time to breathe and listen. As Brian Eno said 'Perhaps when music has been shouting for so long, a quieter voice seems attractive'. School Days is not as ambient as Eno but it is contemplative and deeply satisfying.

Opener Junior High AF sets the tone with an understated motorik beat underpinning woozy, melodic synths. Next up is PE which I urge you to listen to on a decent pair of earphones or sound system. The bass will literally quiver your bones, yet in a caressingly, kind fashion, like having a session with a loving loudspeaker masquerading as a masseuse. Ahh School Days, how did you know I wanted beepy jazz? Did I even know? Ironically the overall feel of the EP, named after a time of their lives when most people don't have a clue what they are doing, is that you are in sonically safe hands which clearly do know.

And so on to my favourite track on the EP - Foreign Exchange, featuring Maïa Abouatliten. If Jane Birkin had teamed up with Aphex Twin instead of Serge Gainsbourg and they'd got up a bit hungover one morning... well this could have been the result. French bliss.

Finally, I have no idea what an Opium Alarm Clock is but if they sound or make you feel anything like this track, I want one. Stabs of synth, possibly a Star Wars monster providing garbled percussive vocals and all driven along on a happy house melody turbo charged with tambourine. Escape from the madness of the world and bristen.