Jinjé’s new release maybe an EP but it packs more than a double album’s worth of sounds into its running time. Traces & Tremors is a hugely captivating set of tracks that show Jinjé – aka Yorkshire DJ and producer Lee J Malcolm – to be a master of sound placement, like a high-end chef creating a 5-course tasting menu of the finest ingredients. There is so much buoyancy in every track with lighter-than-air percussive backing that bounces, skips and frolics to keep everything trampolining from ‘Tokyoto’ to ‘Dark Moons’.
‘Kush’ opens like a games arcade that has become sentient, with all the machines joining in to create an electronic choir. Then, just as you think this electronic machine-dance will carry you off in its circuits a sample of kid’s tribal singing pops up and brings humanity and warmth to the track. There is a calm mid-section before the drop and some sub bass stomps as the sample returns. This is joyous stuff but doesn’t let up as the tribal sample carries on into ‘Give A Pluck’ which is filled with frenetic arpeggios swirling around like starlings.
There are so many layers you don’t want to try and work them all out on the first go round. The EP stands up to repeat listening, and you will be swept away every time as you dive once again into the happy tickle of sounds that gently lift you up into a sonic rapture. Bubbles kept popping up in my mind’s eye every time I listened and I thought of the man near the Tate Modern in London who entertains the hordes of tourists with never-ending clouds of giant bubbles. He could totally enhance his act by playing Traces & Tremors at full volume.
The EP is built on blissful fluidity. It is marshmallow and sparklers and the feeling you get in a plane when you rise above the clouds and the sun fills the cabin. Traces & Tremors is the Goldilocks moment between doing too little and doing too much, and Lee J Malcolm knows how to create and hold that tension in the most beautiful way. If there is a heaven then this must surely be playing on a loop.
Jinjé socials: Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram | YouTube
Review by Paul F CookKeep up to date with all new content on Joyzine via our
Facebook / X / Instagram / Mailing List