Like his recent move from his hometown Miami to a just-as-sunny Los Angeles, with his new EP, Sunset Summer (Wonderful Sound 015), Induce has yet again gone 180º—a move perfectly in line with what seems to be his now normal fashion. Temporarily putting aside the disco rhythms and five part harmonies of his last album, Halfway Between You and Me, this new release finds Induce a bit stripped down, mining deeper inspirations, from ambient, garage, and Kraut rock, tinges of shoegaze to late ’90s French pop.
“Alina,” the EP’s most grand example of this minimalism pairs two instruments, multilayered piano parts and synth warblings, along with reverb drenched vocals to create a beautiful sense of environment and patience, not dissimilar to Eno’s work on the Discreet Music LP. “Ride Around,” a favorite amongst friends produced with longtime collaborator Manuvers, takes a semi-Motorik beat and slows it down a bit, creating a driving, airy feel perfect for a bike ride at sun-down. “Parallel Lines” proves an interesting take on the Kings of Convenience tune, keeping the acoustic nature while introducing new angles of perfectly wrongly placed drums. And with even more drums in mind, “Made of Memories” (also produced by Manuvers) pushes those drums to ten, the Rhodes piano providing balance, but finally guitar squelches take it all over the edge to shoegaze territory. The final song, “Don’t Go” featuring New York’s Blu Jemz doing his best burly teddy bear routine, was recorded in a day and while there may be a definite jokey overtone, over time it proves to become sweetly memorable.