First Transmission: JJ Draper, Zero-Sum.

As startling to the system as this month’s cold snap is polymathic Londoner JJ Draper’s Zero-Sum, its shape shifting incessantly from geneses reminiscent of Jon Hopkins’ immaculate Immunity or Max Cooper’s most melodious arrangements, to RY X-esque sparsity, to the banjo-cajoled intimacies now both known and renowned of Sufjan Stevens. The song is essentially strung together by a robust bass line, this its firmest root, as beautiful EBow moments come and go with unprecedentedly successful whimsy, but musical proficiencies notwithstanding, it’s the vocal that sets Zero-Sum apart. Granted, it arguably gets that bit too similar to that of Justin Vernon at times (it’s dutifully Auto-Tuned, even), although there is a real, and really irreproachable approach to composition (and the spatial positioning of its every component) at play here, thus ensuring this one becomes so much greater than the sum of its seemingly discrepant parts. Which, for a song concerning separation, makes it all the more compelling still…

JJ Draper’s SoundCloud.