ESYA is the name of a new project from Savages bassist Ayşe Hassan launching with this debut album, ‘Chasing Desire,’ a work that revs with the energy of the new whilst building on the experience of the past. After three exploratory EPs and the dissolution of Savages, Hassan uses this record to rebuild her musical identity from the ground up, merging her silken‑force bass work with synths, electronics, and programmed beats that map the contours of a turbulent personal period. The album also captures a return to Hassan’s DIY roots despite years spent touring the world, as she learns an entirely new setup in pursuit of a sound that projects honest vulnerability and a potency for self‑invention. It is so much more than an audio vehicle too for surrounding the release, Hassan is staging a series of ‘Chasing Desire’exhibitions across the UK, inviting listeners into the machinery of the album; from private listening stations to hands‑on synth experimentation, even offering space for visitors to record their own “Desire Transmission,” a growing archive of confessions that will feed into a future ESYA release.
The album begins with ‘Fallen,’ the deep throb of a heavy synth bedrock evoking an imposing, urban landscape where the pulse of human life is fighting against the darkness where “the sun has disappeared.” Ayşe sings with a pain that will pierce you and this is an opening more than hinting at the trauma we might encounter on the journey ahead. But there is a flip side to this, because for all the intensity of the electronic sound there is still something quite warm here. This is electronica rising from other planets, swirling in a melange of molten lava and bursting with colour; in other words, there is beauty emanating from this chilling terrain pointing to brief flashes of clarity amidst the uncertainty. ‘Take My All’ has a touch of chaos that somehow manages to hold together, which might have been exactly the effect Hassan was seeking. She remembers it like this. “Because I was still learning, I decided to embrace the imperfections. I love music where there is that awkwardness and tension and something that’s not right but that I can resonate with.” And she was determined to hit her post-Savages phase with fearlessness, retaining the bass from her past life but otherwise diving into previously untested waters, even singing was a step in a new direction. One thing Brian Eno used to do to shake a band up in the studio was get them all to swap instruments, I sense a similar approach has resulted in some refreshingly bold sounds and textures on ‘Chasing Desire.’
The blank canvass approach and its freedom to explore ideas really inject these tracks with added depth and variety. Something like ‘Wandering’ wrong foots, beginning in broken down ballad territory, before the icy grind of industrial sound pushes the pace into a metronomic space, even though Hassan holds down the personal, whisper in the ear aspect of emoting, leading to an unexpected mix of the frosty and personable. The singing voice Ayşe has uncorked for ESYA is a less than conventional instrument too. She literally plays it like an audio tool on certain tunes, mixing the vocal in a way that marries it to the instrumentation rather than leading it. But then on the title track, with its repeated “I don’t want to be a lover” refrain, she really pushes the character in her delivery to the forefront, properly owning the space as a lead vocalist and allowing every atom of vulnerability and fallibility to bleed through. ‘Heaven’ is easily one of the most accessible tunes to be found here and a major stand-out track for sure. The collision of a cut that is daring you not to dance to it and a lyric about the anxiety of retreating from a difficult situation make for an abrasive yet exhilarating combination. It is like Donna Summer’s ‘I Feel Love’ was produced by Scott Walker (yes that good). A similar effect is heard on ‘Lullaby’ which is anything but berceuse, more like a ghost in the machine. These contrasts co-exist to perfection all the way across ‘Chasing Desires,’ one never threatening to overwhelm the other, a satisfying fusion of tension and release. This is a work overflowing with wonder at the endless possibilities in experimental music and considering the raw material Ayşe Hassan is collecting to move the ESYA endeavour forward, this promises to be a vehicle we would be wise to keep an eye on.
Danny Neill
Get yourself a copy of ‘Chasing Desire’ via this link: https://amzn.to/4cV7mjT
Fruit Tree Records 