AJA - Grime (Opal Tapes, 2021)

AJA follows her self-titled 2018 debut on Opal Tapes with ’Slug’, an intensely emotional work mapping the journey of recovery through addiction through a lightning jar of relentless beats, vocal mutations and bracing noise. Opener “Flesh Tactic” decomposes through wraithlike synths distorting and feedback knotting around ever shifting drum patterns. AJA’s use of stereo panning conveying a sense of being trapped in your own head, where everything is fragmented and you feel disoriented. The sick aggression of “Grime” represents AJA regaining power and clarity. A focussed onslaught of bursting energy. Mind and body locked in resentment and frustration manifest as a riot of pugilistic beats and grinding synths. Masterstroke “Skittish” finds Aja purging the energy and ideas rushing around her head through her drum machine. An alien intelligence at work as beats sputter, slap and seethe, AJA switching between multiple tracks and kits, BPM mutating and patterns dice rolled into new forms