Bleep

Secret Garden feels like the culmination of years of mutually held respect between Planet Mu head Mike Paradinas aka μ-Ziq and past label signee Hannah Davidson aka Mrs Jynx. Brought together in the wake of personal loss, there’s a soul-searching quality to their combined efforts, each producer driving the other forward beyond their individual comfort zones.

μ-Ziq’s heavy drill n bass onslaught is subdued into a psychedelic haze from the offset, as Jynx’s unmistakable melodic prowess propels the soft acid texture of ‘Jynxiq’, a track as indicative of the duo’s paired approach as its title suggests. Things become even more luscious from there, as the deep, sauna-mist dub of ‘Loss’ and ‘The Ballad of Darth Vader’ bring to mind particularly electrified iterations of New Age sonics. In other places, the momentum is never-ending, the twinkling arps of the album’s vibrant title track bringing the work to an upbeat close.

It takes courage to make happy music in this day and age, such that it can feel taboo to put down a joyous melody. But μ-Ziq and Mrs Jynx have put down several with Secret Garden, less an album for dancing in flames and more a therapeutic balm to soothe the burns.