New Celestial Trax – “Swallowing Smoke”

if you’ve spent any time on Celestial Trax’s Tumblr, it’s easy to see where the Brooklyn-based producer draws inspiration from. Fluttering GIFs, Grecian imagery and a fixation on facial disfigurement dominate the page and offer a startling visual complement to deeply affecting take on grime, hip hop and other club forms. Vocals bring human form to his music, but are utilized more as a foil for rounded kicks and sizzling synth work than a singular, evocative entity. Last month’s Paroxysm EP, out now on Rinse, established the former London resident’s grime credentials, comprising four tracks of clicking, gun waving action that seems to explode in every possible direction. “Swallowing Smoke” sees him take a breath and step down from Paroxysm‘s spastic intentions, twisting a spindly vocal sample around Angelic pads. It’s tense and tightly wound, but also ephemeral, seemingly on the verge of blowing away at any time. Don’t sleep.