Obscure acts are as abundant as oxygen these days, but you need a very keen ear to pick the creativity out from the oft-monotonous-sounding bunch. Luckily, there are times when the mysterious music reveals itself, and today, Aussie musician Aleksander's "Phoenix", taken from his recently released Mah, Jang, Jong! EP, has. We're a bit surprised it's been untouched until now, given its undeniable sonic sheen, but we're just happy to have come across it at all. An alluring, stripped-down beat constitutes the base of the track, and although it's fairly simple, it's also incredibly powerful as it weaves around a set of chilling vocal calls. Some deep synths contribute to the song's strength, too, and subtle electronic melodies ring throughout the chorus while solemn piano chords harmonize with Aleksander's enticing vocals. The result is a minimalistic but entirely captivating sound, and while we don't know much about the man behind it all, we definitely hope he can produce some more efforts of this caliber in the future. We'll be having "Phoenix" on repeat, in any event.
Aleksander