Synkro – Transient EP

Rating: 9/10

Synkro AKA Joe McBride returns to Apollo for his fourth release on the label with the stunning Transient EP. Inspired by his move from the bright city lights of Manchester back to his childhood home, this is music that aches with nostalgia and melancholy.

“I wrote the EP in between moving house, I started the tracks in my old flat & finished them in my new house. After living & spending a lot of time in Manchester I decided that it wasn’t for me, I moved back to a small town in Derbyshire where I grew up & this EP kind of reflects my journey.” – Synkro

Swooning pads set the scene for opener ‘Someone’, cut against plangent vocals and a stuttering break-beat and humming sub bass, title track ‘Transient’ goes deeper with more lush yet desolate polyphony and strident percussive rhythms.

‘Contact’ strikes a more intimate and hopeful mood – re-pitched chords and dubbed out vocals allied to gentle jazzy percussion, while ‘Falling’ brings the listeners journey to an end with a spectral lullaby, emotive descending pads punctured with glassy drum claps.

Related: Sam Smith – Like I Can (Artful Remix)

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