- Dreamy house that's both functional and ethereal.
- The Vancouver scene is a fertile breeding ground for house producers. Now there's Big Zen, AKA Jamie Enns, a Winnipeg transplant and occasional DJ who you can usually find at the city's best parties. Enns makes his vinyl debut on Planet Euphorique, a new Vancouver outlet run by D. Tiffany. Like the label's first 12-inch, Key3 is a creative EP that pulls old-school trance, prog and classic house into a deliciously strange brew.
The slow-burning "Big Trance" isn't exactly trance, but it is big. Over eight minutes, synth melodies bloom, recede and stutter, riding an insistent bounce that strengthens over time. "Tip Sonic" sounds closer to trance, with its brittle melodic accents and fulsome bass notes, though it's another smooth journey through creamy chord progressions. The carefree whistling lead of "Weo" seems to float above the ground, while "Buddon" is all top-down chunkiness. It's sweetened by an array of vocal samples, whose Western and Eastern scales waft over "Buddon" like smoke. Key3 is a strong EP that shows Enns' knack for pairing the functional with the ethereal in a very Vancouver way.
TracklistA1 Big Trance
A2 Weo
B1 Tip Sonic
B2 Buddon