YuTaNi - AT THE END OF A DAY

As well as producing some of the finest electronic music to come from Glasgow in many a year, Machines In Heaven's three members also busy themselves with solo projects. Now, alongside Davey Gwynne's blood blood project and Greg Hurst's Magic Daddy work, Connor Reid has released the quite wonderful At The End Of A Day album as YuTaNi on Hot Gem.

The album has, in the main, an ambient feel to it that brings to mind the likes of Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works Vol II with many of the songs sharing that albums other worldy feel. The opening three tracks For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky, All Goes Onward And Outward...And Nothing Collapses and Trocchi combine an underlying menace with a sparseness that is really quite magical, pulling you into the album's dense, dark soundscapes. Entrance Stone then adds some beats and muffled sounding samples before the quite brilliant Mt. Minakami arrives like the sun peeking out from behind the clouds. It's an outstanding track and one that I've been playing on heavy rotation all week. It combines a New Order like bass and guitar line with beautiful electronic and piano melodies squiggled all over the top. An absolute stormer. Splay comes next with its crackling vinyl samples reminiscent of The Caretaker before the trip hop feel of All's Well That Ends Well leads into the poppier City You Love which is one of the few tracks to have a prominent guitar lead throughout and features vocals by Jomez. Agalama returns us to an Aphex Twin feel albeit more the first Selected Ambient Works album as there are beats present before the short Kashasha Tanganyika brings us to the penultimate track Wabi-Sabi. It's another superb track built around a recurring piano motif and surrounded by a wide array of tasty beats and bleeps. The album then concludes on the Croatoan Roanoke, a lengthy early Brian Eno like soundscape that you can't help but get lost in. 

There is something special about this album and it's a real must hear for fans of electronic music of all genres really as there's something here for everyone. If I have to recommend one track it would have to be Mt. Minakami as it's genuinely one of the best things I've heard in a while. Don't just stop there though - delve right in.

The album can be streamed on Soundcloud (https://soundcloud.com/connor-reid/sets/at-the-end-of-a-day-full-album) or below and can, and indeed, should be bought at Bleep 

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