<strong>Themes for Dying Earth</strong> <strong>Teen Daze</strong> <strong>Flora</strong> <strong>Four-and-a-half stars</strong> Teen Daze – the Vancouver electronic group led by Jamison Isaak – return with an album as fragile as it is enigmatic. The melodies seep in rather than take hold, while the hushed vocals hover like mist. These descriptions are apt, as <em>Themes For Dying Earth</em> is as much about the pain we cause ourselves as well as the physical world. “The days seem to waste without movement,” he croons in the opener Cycle. “But it always feels like I am loosing.” It’s a beautiful track, beginning with a vintage analogue keyboard and digital drums, before Jamison comes in with a swirling vocal take. The beauty of it all, however, is in the faint sound of a flowing river in the background – it is a field recording taken from Fraser Valley in British Columbia. In the delicate instrumental <em>Cherry Blossoms</em>, the keyboards twinkle, while <em>Rising</em> is the only track to slightly raise the pulse. Deeply beautiful and poignant, <em>Themes for Dying Earth</em> is a pure piece of aural balm. sasaeed@thenational.ae
