Teen Daze - All Of Us, Together

Shifting feverishly from chillwave through ambient to techno in the space of just two years, British Colombian Teen Daze, known to his friends as Jamison, has pitched up at some evolutionary strain of all three on ‘All Of Us, Together’, his third album. Euphoric, intricate and lustrous, don’t expect the out-n-out chillwave of last year’s blog smash ‘Let’s Groove’, and ditto the ambient yelps of the ‘Silent Planet’ EP, but do imagine similar elements and ideals mish-mashed into novel shapes. Think the radiant, beatific twin of Pantha du Prince.

What came to define Daze’s earlier work was his heavily filtered, volatile vocals, but these are largely absent here. Instead he lets his shimmering, arpeggiating synths take centre stage, and to marvellous effect. Take portentous opener ‘Treten’, in all its sun-kissed swathes of synth ripples, rumbling bass bleeps and cymbal clatters. Layer after layer enclose the listener; superior headphones make this one luscious, immersive experience. six-minute opus ‘For Body And Kenzie’ does a similar job, starting down-tempo and ending up as an infectious head-nodding haze.

Other standouts come via ‘The New Balearic’, whose Balearic beach vibes are corroborated by buoyant bass pounds and sea splashes. ‘The Future’ meanwhile, underpinned by undulating CASIO twinks, does feature distinctly chillwave echelons of layered vocals like a long-lost Washed Out B-Side. But best of all is ‘Erbstruck’, which recalls the ‘North Dorm’ EP by NY producer Evenings, led by jilting synth loops and throbbing, repetitive beats. Maybe this is what they meant by Hypnagogic Pop?

One possible criticism is the lack of variation throughout, but that’s besides the point. This was intended as a vital, woozy summer repose, nine tracks in the perfect sequence for drifting off on a lazy, languorous May afternoon.