Just when you think 2025 can’t throw you any more curveballs, up pops UZU with not one, but two EPs of gothic-tinged electronica.
The curveball here is not so much the music contained within the EPs but more the fact that UZU hail from Newport (just down the road from me), and I’ve never heard of them until now.
The brainchild of David Lloyd Chapman, frontman of alt-metal trio Crisis Talks (who I have heard of, but never seen live), UZU specialise in dark, atmospheric, grunge-tinged (largely due to Chapman’s Layne Staley-tinged vocals on tracks like ‘Choke’ and ‘Under A Blackened Sun’) electronic rock music. There are also touches of ‘Host’-era Paradise Lost and the more introspective side of Marilyn Manson throughout ‘Ichi’s’ 7 tracks, and these factors all make for a very interesting listen indeed.
The production on both EPs is top drawer, creating a claustrophobic intensity that at times has me drifting off into the soundscapes Chapman has conjured up, especially during the short, almost ambient interludes that pop up throughout both EPs.
By contrast to ‘Ichi’ its sibling release ‘Ni’ is the one that has really drawn me in, largely because this one comes with hints of Trent Reznor’s soundtrack work along with a Shawn Smith like vocal influence interspersed throughout its 9 tracks, and whilst these tracks seldom break out of a slow throbbing rhythmic pace (‘Magazine’ being the obvious exception with its AIC riffage) it’s music that fans of the likes of Gazelle Twin and Ben Frost should instantly fall in love with.
I love receiving releases like this, simply because David Lloyd Chapman is doing something different with UZU. He’s cremating the rock ‘n roll envelope by not only including electronic elements but also making them become the main driving force of his creations, and if Soulwax can do this and sell out Academy-sized venues, then why not UZU?
‘Ichi’ & ‘Ni’ are available on all digital streaming platforms right now, check them out, you might be surprised too that this is music produced in South Wales and not some bleak Nordic ambient black metal import LP that will cost you the best part of £40.
Author: Johnny Hayward
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