VICIOUS CIRCLES by SINJIN HAWKE / ZORA JONES

The debut EP by Sinjin Hawke and Zora Jones, who aside from producing music also run the audio-visual production unit 'Fractal Fantasy'.Zora released several collaborations on last year's 'Visceral Minds 2' including 'Dark Matter' with Planet Mu's Jlin, while Sinjin has collaborated with DJ Rashad, Just Blaze and MikeQ, and also produced music for monoliths like Kanye West and Frank Ocean. Remarkably, given the breadth of their work, 'Vicious Circles' is their first collaborative EP, and the first time either have released a vinyl record too. The EP is a great showcase for the duo's emotional, maximalist chimeras of abstract pounding beats. From the punchy, circular, grandiose build-ups of opener 'Vicious Circles', to the unyielding melancholy of 'God' with its sinister Bulgarian choir sample against a peak Timbaland-era rhythm, the record's potent synths and manipulated vocals are both simultaneously fierce and friendly. 'Source of Conflict' is a poised dance between pulsing ambient textures and drilling beats, while 'Lurk 101' pits a volley of abstracted juke toms up against a hammering drumline. 'BabyboySosa' feels like drum-less drill, manipulating vocals into strange alien shapes over a bassline before spiraling toms and hi-hats start to form a forceful march. The EP concludes on the love anthem 'And You Were One' with a chipmunked vocal running through its wonky chorus of bent notes and chords