Glistening pads flow through the stereo field as F R U I T S begins. Slow, shadowed movements conceal themselves…

tuneful sustained notes, as if the real world was trying to reach us as we descend to a higher place. YZIN BLAZE appreciation for slick sound is apparent for the duration of the track, as the beautifully crystalline pad continues unhindered, peaking every now and again as it changes its tune. The minimalistic texture is calming, even when the dissonant airy sounds begin to mist up the windows of the ethereally lit supermarket in which we stand. 

JUST MADE IT (STORE CLOSING) shifts us up a few tones and begins a more quickly shifting tune. A quiet drumbeat begins, the lethargy of it only taking it past a few beats before it disappears. Everything we hear is pristinely packaged, and there is a clear dichotomisation between these plastic sounds and the strange sounds of the world outside. The peppered percussion sounds as though the last door is closing and being locked and we’ve breathlessly ran out onto the tarmac of the car park in time.

FLUTES OF LABOUR flies in with a structure we’ve not come into contact with so far. The drumbeat is loud and attention-grabbing with crowded and more apparent sound crashing behind. From the first two tracks, the listener may not have been expecting such a sudden jolt into rhythmic territory, but we recognise the pads flowing behind as those that have carried us through so far. We fall into a hypnagogic, head-nodding rhythm until the drums fall away. We can hear now that the background noise almost sounds like construction work, which gels with the song’s title beautifully. The flute pads feel new and untouched, while the deeper pad driving the main melodic thrust fills out the mid frequencies, allowing us to grab onto the cloudy melodic elements of this song and it’s counterparts.

FRUITS OF LABOUR (INSTRUMENTAL) reprises the revolving motif of the prior track, the construction sounds pushed further back. The flutes sound a little more gentle than before. Before we can try and interpret it, a sample of muffled speaking is ripped from the sequence. This leaves us with a feeling of detached connection. Like hearing half of a conversation in an empty shopping centre. We wander until we come full circle, every now and again reminded that the place we are in is usually place of business and crowds. YZIN BLAZE’s short EP is pleasing to the ear and plays with some fantastic concepts as well. 

Listen in full/download here: https://yzinblaze.bandcamp.com/album/fruits-of-labour