New Elen Never Sleeps: “My Aquamarine/Spinning Wheel”

Up to now, Tokyo’s Elen Never Sleeps (sometimes written in all-caps) been making music almost too easily described as “dreamy,” intimate pop covered in a haze that makes the whole track sound like it could vanish into the air any second. Yet he’s accomplished an unlikely feet with his new pair of songs – Elen Never Sleeps retains the dream-like atmosphere while making these two new numbers his most immediate and awake works to date. Both “My Aquamarine” and “Spinning Wheel” show Elen growing as an artist, his best music to date. Oh, and you can download both for free here, making it all even better.

Whereas older Elen tunes sometimes took time to get going and often sounded soft, “My Aquamarine” wastes no times skipping out the gate and boasts a higher volume than anything on the previously released Blue Dogma EP. Despite the changes, the vocals still carry a My Bloody Valentine-like impact, lovely but also obscured just enough to be a bit mysterious. Now, though, the singing meets one of the best melodies Elen Never Sleeps has thought up yet. Even better is “Spinning Wheel,” where the gauzy atmosphere conjured up by the voice and guitar get joined by…something sort of funky. This is the first Elen track that doesn’t sound entirely like pre-sleep wondering, but rather something begging to be dance to. It’s an exciting development, courtesy Elen Never Sleeps best two songs yet.

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