Bold Choices Lift SYEYL Above The Generic On Ambient–Dance EP ‘Mental Sunshine’

Returning for his 3rd EP 'Mental Sunshine', Hrithik Arora aka SYEYL continues to combine ambient and dance.

It is a pleasant space to begin with. Synths, generative timbres and obscured samples reverberate, glitch and shimmer to intensities that engulf save for the moments of intended breakdowns. Drums thump over sustained bass notes with sufficient consistency to lock on to physically, while a secondary layer sub-noticeably syncopates. There is a pristineness to how the two are brought together as elements are never left raw or untethered from the vibrant, busy sonic collage.

There are exceptions too on the 6-track release. 'Chimera' breaks beyond SYEYL's usual by letting its broken beat drums take centre stage as the ambience shifts to a supportive role, while the closer 'A Chemical Reaction (Outro)' focuses solely on the latter.

However, the New Delhi artist truly begins to break beyond the generic of his genre when the choices are bold.

It's in trusting the sensualness of the vocal sample on 'La Mer' and putting it up close, whirring it almost in your head, instead of choosing the cliche of burying it in the ether of the reverberating textures, or of letting the strings distort till they transform from a harmonic bed to textural noise that SYEYL begins to rise above the ignorable. On 'Zenosyne', he doesn't hold back from moving, nearly abruptly, from placating harmonies to tense ones as the drum grooves shift and embark together with the rest of the ensemble on one long crescendo of intensity.

The biggest highlight, however, comes on 'Space Becomes The Mirror' where even the ambience maintains a soft rhythm that contrasts pleasantly against the weight of the wobbling bass and broken beat. It maintains the ebb and flow through its density, subverting cliché approaches while enabling the groove to keep the dancefloor moving.

Listen to 'Mental Sunshine' below and follw SYEYL for more information.

Image: SYEYL at Magnetic Fields Festival 2024