Sapphire Slows – Emotion Still Remains EP

In such strange times as this, it’s reassuring to be reminded that Sapphire Slows is still around and spinning her intricate dream mazes with such assurance. The title track and It Comes in Waves sit in the centre of this EP, two extended explorations of soft-edged yet glacial synth geometry, with ambient washes of texture providing a spectral commentary on this rhythmical journey from the background. These two longer tracks are bracketed by the EP’s shorter opening and closing acts, with Sapphire Slows’ vocals forming a clearer part of both Will Tell You a Story’s gradually building textural layers and the closing After Your Body Fades’ alien kaleidoscope of eerie, dispersed tones. The atmosphere that holds this EP’s narrative all together is complex yet simultaneously simple in its sparseness and space, like raindrops falling through leaves as clouds slowly evolve and disperse in the sky above.