Last Monday saw the drop of ‘Into The Void EP’ by Londoner and relative newcomer Oliver Yorke, through Vandal Ltd; the sister label to esteemed French imprint Vandal Records. This atmospheric four track EP is a distinctly accomplished offering for an artist with but a handful of singles and compilation appearances dating back only as far as early 2013 to respective underground labels Alignment Records and Retrospective Recordings.
[dropcap]U[/dropcap]nbridled by genre conventions, the inspired ‘Into The Void EP’ is a classy release that would fit in aside the retro musicality of the recent Metalheadz catalogue, and calls to mind the organic depth of Blocks and Escher’s Narratives Music. ‘Into The Void EP’ makes for an interesting deviation from Yorke’s last release; the techy ‘Digital Native / Lose Yourself’ 12”.
Avidly conceptual in nature, the EP embarks on its deep narrative with the powerful title track ‘Into The Void’. This ethereal epic takes me on some sort of transcendental departure for all of its seven minutes of play time. Closing my eyes for a second to zone out to the dreamily skewed percussion and retro chords; the astral beauty of the track depicting the star-spotted blackness and existential disconnect of an astronaut’s experience of outer space. It’s pretty deep.
The second tune ‘On Your Mind’ takes an Earthly turn. Bound by angsty introspection, the emotive character of this track ruminates as it swells and bounds between each drop like the agitations of the human mind. A muffled vocal croons longingly atop off-kilter percussion, juxtaposing a modern quality against the song’s nostalgic soundscape.
Although I’m spoiled for choice with this polished release, ’Celestial Shadows’ nabs first place as my choice cut. Feeding the listener’s appetite for something heavier to accentuate the EP, ‘Celestial Shadows’ provides the weight. The looming tone of this half-time saga takes shape as an eerie astronautical transmission floats across the minimal scarcity of the bridge before the track plunges deep into solar eclipse. The darkest track on the EP by far; ‘Celestial Shadows’ pulls no punches and will delight fans of the Samurai Music camp.
Sublime soundscape ‘Cerebral’ renders the EP complete. Still very much in tune with the cosmological theme and sub-genre diversity of the tracks that come before; ’Cerebral’ cites an autonomic style with the quality execution that I would expect to feature on the next episode of dBridge and Kid Drama’s HeartDrive mix series. The odd-ball vocal sample tells the story of an enlightened neuroscientist describing the experience of a spiritual disembodiment, while the hypnotic percussion meanders to crescendo before bringing this exciting EP to a close.
’Into The Void EP’ is a treat sure to please the deeper heads, and shows a lot of promise for this little known producer. Keep your eye out for this artist – Oliver Yorke is definitely one to watch!
Grab the EP here: iTunes.
Oliver Yorke: Soundcloud, Facebook.
Vandalrecords.net
