Teen Daze is the stage name of ambient/atmospheric, electronic-pop musician Jamison (who never reveals his full name). The British Columbia native has built up quite the body of work over the five years as Teen Daze, which has culminated with the release of his new EP and first work of 2015, A World Away.
A World Away sees Teen Daze move away from his vocal orientated earlier work, shifting to a direction that is more beat driven, giving the listener a far better feeling of the ambient sounds at work. The EP spans six tracks, ranging from four minutes to the eight minute epic, ‘Than’, totalling around 35 minutes.
What makes Teen Daze‘s music so accessible is its ability to fill so many different moods of a listener. If you want something to relax to, A World Away, fits the description. If it is something to reflect on, or wanting to be inspired by, the EP again fits the bill.
‘Sun Burst’ kicks off the EP and does so very well, keeping the listener on the edge of their seat as they await in anticipation of a drop which never arrives, the song staying in build-up mode and teasing throughout. It leads in beautifully to EP standout ‘Another Night’, which teases with a soft, shuddering beat that does not let up. All that build up and emotion is all released over the close-to-six minutes that ‘Another Night’ plays out.
The rest of the EP feels more like a reflection of the opening two tracks, teasing us with moments as it does on the eight-minute long fourth track ‘Than’ and on the piano-centric third track ‘Reykjavik, January 2015’, which is a delightful piece of soft, natural sounds.
A World Away is most definitely best served as a whole piece, rather than looking for single songs to listen to on repeat, and this is usually the case with all of Teen Daze work. In late-2014, Jamison promised a new EP and LP for 2015 and with the EP released, I await the new LP later in the year with much anticipation, hoping it is a further progression of what was done on A World Away.
Rating: ★★★☆
Stream A World Away below or pick up your own copy via the Teen Daze Bandcamp page.
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