RECOMMENDED: YYU – KISS AS WE WALK (RAMP RECORDINGS)

Yyu - Kiss As We Walk (Ramp Recordings)

Ramp Recordings continues to diversify its roster with an intriguing new single from their latest signing, Kansas-based experimental producer and songwriter yyu. The two track ‘Kiss As We Walk’ single precedes his forthcoming sophomore album for the label, which is due out later this year, and serves as an impressive introduction to a unique artist.

Working at the intersection of acoustic and electronic sounds, the two tracks offer very different but equally beguiling approaches that deftly showcase the breadth of yyu’s idiosyncratic songwriting capabilities. On one side, ‘Kiss As We Walk’ is a hazy patchwork of found sound, fragmented drum machine rhythms, pitched vocals and sun-kissed synths that borrows from the raw sampling techniques of footwork to build an utterly hypnotic groove. On the other, ‘When We Are Old’ is an altogether different proposition. Stripping back the dense production of ‘Kiss As We Walk’ to little more than an acoustic guitar and his own vocals, yyu employing subtle vocal layering and soft natural ambience to add further nuance to the fragile, honest performance.