The best thing about a new 1080p release? The total unknown of what you’re about to experience. If you’re unfamiliar with 1080p, you should know this:
- They’re a record label based out of Vancouver.
- They release house music that is inviting, rich and warm.
- They love making cassettes.
Jayda G’s new EP Sixth Spirit of the Bay fits snugly between Project Pablo’s outstanding I Want to Believe and the cosmic grooves of LNRDCROY. The 1080p stamp of approval gave me assurance that even if this wasn’t going to be my jam, it would be a trip.
Opening the record is “Fathom Five,” a mix of technicolour keyboards and drum-loops that provide an invitation into the record. It’s like walking in a dark field while the sun slowly rises. The opening notes tromp stoically into lush keys that build into a cool wave of turquoise. By minute 2:28, the song fully captures the “Canadian Riveria” sound (a term coined by house label and city-mates Mood Hut).
According to the 1080p website, “Sixth Spirit is infused with a sense of warmth and carefreeness based on current experiences, looped back into nostalgias of [Jayda’s] first field season as a young scientist in Ontario.” I can picture Jayda crafting this song in the woods, the sun breaking through a canopy of trees as “Cascabel” weaves through her mind into the green, the building groove of jungle snares and bass loops coming to life. The movement of this song makes it the stand-out track of the EP.
Sixth Spirit contains two originals and two reworkings of the track “Girl Music” from Montreal duo Cafe Lanai. “Heaven Could Be Lately” is well-orchestrated, but takes me out of the wild, where the record’s narrative feels most at home. The exultation felt in the first two tracks fades with the dependency on vocal samples.
The outro track “Listen Closely” brings the record to a close, drawing on Jayda’s impressive beat-building and weaving the vocals into the texture of the song.
Sixth Sense captures how alive it feels to be in nature. Mossy house music at its finest.
