Some tracks have a magic ability to smash the gas pedal. “Wait” by Zöe Mc Pherson gets a deeply satisfying treatment by aya that’s just too good not to share here right now. It just churns. And it drops atop a don’t-miss EP of remixes of Zöe’s Pitch Blender – so here’s your reminder to catch that.
Zoë, announced this cut this week as a “surprise” remix addition to the Pitch Blender remixes, “slow-burning roaring footwork, drum and bass tinted.” The Manchester-born, London-based artist aya is adept at spinning rhythms that accelerate and spin in half-mechanical, half-fantastical ways, like psychedelic clockwork about to break. And her imagination is narrative in her lyric-writing, which gives even this instrumental track a feeling of narrative and speech. As she described her debut album to Dazed, the music can be “about the seams splitting and it being this psychotic break and intense neurodivergent moments where everything feels like it’s coming apart.”
As it happens, that can also mean a floor-rattling club hit with footwork influence, for those moments when you let yourself break apart and move.
Bandcamp [link goes live on release day, Friday 9th February]
Streaming services and digital preorder
artwork by Alessandra Leone
Now, go check the full remix EP (not to mention the original excellence from Zöe). Onboard: Scratch DVA, Jana Rush, MC Yallah, Kasimyn Gendang, Jessica Ekomane, and even Zoë reworking their own track. (Go search anyone you didn’t know in that lineup – it’s a perfectly curated list, like an ideal festival stage, practically.)
This EP is a rare case of a remix release feeling truly organic, like seeing the original source material refracting through like-minded spirits. Lots of records try to be fast and hyperactive; this one seems to have remembered the fresh dilithium crystals.
Also, extra extra points to Zoë for making something big happen on their own self-released imprint, which is not an easy task these days.
Watch this space for more, for sure.
Previously from Aya on Hyberdub:
But aya also has a new release coming soon, dropping the 23rd of this month on her own YCO:
Go check Zoë’s label directly:
https://www.instagram.com/sfx_space/