Metro Zee EP - Metro Zee (Ritual Poison)

Title: Metro Zee EP

Artist: Metro Zee

Label: Ritual Poison

Cat Number: RP006

Genre: Space Jazz

1: Barbd

2: Carer

3: Battered Mazda

4: Turtle GoPro

5: Cetacea

6: Manningtree Freeze

If, as has been written, this EP was “Written in a windowless studio in Bermondsey during a year of self-imposed isolation after stopping drinking and taking drugs” then maybe that’s a good thing, especially because the release is “entirely constructed out of a single field recording of a slowly pickling radish that I stole from my neighbour's allotment.” Under such circumstances, Mr Metro must be climbing the walls at the moment. Nowhere to go, no one to see . . . let’s hope that this produces results even more fractal than these. There’s a lot going on here, and various themes emerge, both as a consequence of listening and overthinking. What I can say though, is that this is a piece of work, in both the literal and idiomatic sense. Some bits I like more than others: the subaquatic stylings of the blissful ‘Turtle GoPro’ and the soaring ‘Manningtree Freeze’ stand out, and versatile too. ‘Barbd’ and ‘Cetacea’ are laid back and occasionally noodly, while ‘Carer’ and ‘Battered Mazda’ eloquently articulate drum and bass to varying degrees of intensity.