In a world where everyone is stamping their feet and waving their hands for clicks, likes, and small red hearts, it's nice to find yourself moved by music that slides in without much fanfare, just a kicky beat or five, some vinyl crackles, some manipulated synths and, when necessary, vocals as deliciously appealing as butter melting on hot toast (that'd be the title track with vocalist Ann Shirley we're talking about).Like the criminally undersung Slime, Crayon is one man, making music softly, subtley, but with an insidious appeal. Crayon is a Parisian illustrator turned music maker and below is his first debut EP proper Flee. (Although his other EP, a collaboration with Dune, is well worth a listen: an excellent exercise in pared back R&B-soul.) He first caught the ear of Parisian tastemaker label Kitsuné, then Yuksek's label Partyfine and now this slim collection comes out on Roche Musique (who tend to pump out the finer, chiller end of house music).But back to Crayon. He had this to say about the EP: "It's four tracks with very little care for a specific genre, context, nor era in mind. I have been quiet for a while, experimenting with sounds and drawing all day. I got frustrated to the point where this frustration became an inspiration in itself, and from there I was wable to express more and more, it became an introspective process so everything went in there, like my evergrowing fear of adulthood for instance, but more generally everything I would go through, emotionally, spiritually too."Listen below:
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