12″ + Bonus Download
1. Iblard
2. Aburaya (Original mix)
3. Johannesburg
4. The Grand Opening
Bonus Download includes above Tracks, and the following:
5. Abuyra (Instrumemtal mix)
6. Hang On
With its lush chords, soft-pedal beat and yearning vocal, ‘Johannesburg’ is a meditative take on a very chaotic city. When the strings appear three quarters through, you can’t help but be swept away in its wistful nature.
On the ‘Grand Opening’, soft rattling percussion introduce a velvety rising pad swimming in gentle effects. The breakdown is pure melancholy, wind-chime sounding instruments accentuating the melody’s peaks.
The gentle call-to-arms of ‘Aburaya’ should crack the most hardened of spirit. The beat is inviting and the melody vintage Powel, all tied together by soothing vocal refrains. On the Instrumental version, the vocal is removed, allowing the melody more space to glide across the rhythm like an ice skater. Both versions feel intimate, like a trip down Memory Lane in the old family car.
The rubber-band bassline on ‘Hang On’ makes for a disorienting experience, but in a way that someone experiencing bliss for the first time might feel. And when the breakdown introduces thick and soothing melodic mist, paradise beckons.
The deliciously slow, R&B style jam of ‘Iblard’ is a stoner’s delight. Discordant melodies swirl across the spilling and dripping percussion, and a lazy bass sigh intermittently to make its presence known. Once the warbled radio static appears towards the end, you know peak satisfaction has been reached.
